Least cost generation expansion planning with wind power plant incorporating emission using Differential Evolution algorithm

•Balanced approach between high emission base load and low emission-peak load plants.•Differential Evolution applied to GEP problem to find out the optimal expansion plan.•Impact of wind plant on plant mix and system reliability for policy alternatives is studied.•Generation mix and reliability are sensitive to policies for reduction of emissions.•Capacity, costs and reliability increased by introduction of wind plants. Generation Expansion Planning (GEP) is a challenging problem as both the supply and the demand for energy have temporal and spatial variations. It also involves the integration of system elements with a complex mix of alternative candidate plants having different physical and production capabilities and characteristics. The integration of all such elements in a system framework makes the GEP a large-scale, long-term, non-linear, mixed-variable mathematical modeling problem. The accurate solution of such realistic models is essential to create an efficient and economic power system. The aim of this study is to determine the GEP for the candidate system, integrating all critical system elements leading to the formulation of a realistic mathematical system and the employment of GEP in the model solutions. It also demonstrates the effectiveness of DE algorithm in finding efficient solutions to the identified problem. The planning is carried out for two different planning horizons of 6 and 14years. An approach, which is balanced, is adopted to understand the long term impact of wind additions by imposing Total Emission Reductions Constraints (TERC) and Emission Treatment Penalty Costs (ETPC) on the remaining portion of pollution. As the system is expected to get an increasing proportion of wind power plants in future, a special focus is given to study the impact of such increase. The resulting variations in different cost components including the emissions and the variations in reliability indices are also reported.