Power Line Routing Considering Aspects of Sustainable Development and Complex Environments

This paper presents a sustainability aspects evaluation of power line routing, considering environmental and socio-economic impacts within the Brazilian expansion planning context. The Transmission Line (TL) Osório 3 - Gravataí 3 located in Brazil is evaluated as study case, and an alternative route is proposed using map algebra and Least Cost Path Analysis (LCPA). Sustainability indexes are calculated for original and alternative TL route based on the methodology presented by the Energy Research Office (EPE), one of the government companies responsible for energy expansion planning in Brazil. The evaluation result is that the proposed route modification increased the TL sustainability index from 0.67 to 0.71, however, increasing the total line length in 23 km.