The integration of a massive number of large-scale wind turbines brought about urgent technical challenge to power transmission network operators in terms of secure power supply and energy dispatching optimization. In this paper, an optimal framework is proposed for transmission expansion planning in a deregulated power market environment. The level of congestion in the network is utilized as the driving signal for the need of network expansion. A compromise between the congestion cost and the investment cost is used to determine the optimal expansion scheme. The long-term network expansion problem is formed as the decoupled combination of: 1) the master problem (minimization of investment costs subject to investment constraints and the Benders cuts generated by the operational problem (power pool) and 2) the operational problem, whose solution provides congestion details and associated multipliers. A proper power-pool model is developed and solved for congestion cost, congestion reven 查看全文>>