Meeting growing energy demand and taking low carbon transition are two main energy issues in most countries. Planning and operation of energy supply systems are challenging tasks with multiple energy types, supply sources, transmission options, processing technologies, end-consumers, and large quantity of costly infrastructure. Energy planning models could reduce costs as well as address growing and transition issues. In this study, a mathematical modelling framework describing a national scale low carbon transition and optimizing energy system deployment is developed. The energy system of China, which is the largest energy consumer in the world, is used as a reference when developing the framework. Compared to previous studies, spacial and temporal resolution is greatly improved to cover regional variations in energy resources, inter-regional energy transmission, and monthly fluctuations of energy demand. A case study of China's energy infrastructure planning up to 2050 is presented to illustrate the capability of the proposed framework.