Applicability of engineering design concepts to power system planning and operation

In this paper, first the influence of both restructuring and technological innovation on the planning of power systems is explained. It is shown that as a result of restructuring and technological innovation, the complexity of power system planning increases in two ways. Restructuring leads to an increase in the number of criteria that have to be used to evaluate different possible solutions. Technological innovation leads to an increase in the number of alternative solutions. The second topic addressed in this paper is the applicability of approaches and insights from engineering design to power system planning. A number of concepts that are considered to be the core of engineering design are identified. Then, the applicability of these concepts to both generation and transmission planning, separated tasks after the restructuring of the electricity industry, is investigated. It is argued that some engineering design concepts can be applied advantageously to power system planning, whereas others are less useful because of the organizational setting or the technical characteristics of power systems.