A Survey on Modeling Approaches for Generation and Transmission Expansion Planning Analysis

Generation and transmission expansion planning (GTEP) models determine the evolution of power systems over a long-term planning horizon, by defining technology, capacity and location of new generating units, as well as new electrical interconnections to be built. The models required to plan investment decisions in the power sector are typically large-scale models, since many variables and constraints are needed to represent a great number of strategic and operating decisions: to compute a solution to GTEP models different approximations have to be introduced. This paper provides a comprehensive description of the GTEP analysis, by highlighting the characteristics and the challenges of this problem and by reviewing the main approaches proposed in the literature to answer to specific research questions. This paper provides also a formulation of the GTEP problem suited to address decarbonization challenges in the power sector.