The objective of the project Planning Studies for Angola’s National Transmission Power Network was to propose a harmonious growth of the National Very-High Voltage Transmission Network so that the National Network could meet the growing demand and the corresponding power generation developments. The network planning proposals should work in harmony together with the existing network, the projects under current development and the foreseen projects. New network investments should be proposed in three successive development stages: Existing Network (2013), Short-Term Network (2014-2017), and Future Network (2018-2025). The following conditions must be observed:
- Under normal operation, meet all technical planning criteria;
- In a contingency situation, meet all security requirements;
- For all lines, meet connection requirements;
- In general, meet all transient stability criteria.
Objective. The objective of the project was met, and as a result of the planning studies, the planned network includes, in addition to the existing network, the following major investments: 26 new 400 kV lines (3489 km), 46 new 220 kV lines (3738 km), 31 new transformers (10700 MVA), 369 km of line upratings, 620Mvar of new controllable capacitance, 900 Mvar of new inductive reactance, 8 major new switching capabilities.
Team. The project execution was under responsibility of EDP and EDP International for the Ministry of Water and Energy of Angola’s Government. It was a project of great complexity which required comprehensive, thorough technical skills in the domain of analysis, planning and operation of electric power systems, and also required a profound knowledge of the territorial geographical reality as well as the evolving social and economical developments.
The project team consisted of a consortium made up of several partners, including companies specialized in analysis and planning studies in the area of very-high voltage networks, in the area of project development, and in the area of data gathering — from multiple sources including from numerous field trips. INESC–ID was the University partner and participated in the design of the proposed networks, in the discussion of the solution as well as in the writing of the reports.