Assessment of available transfer capability of transmission systems

The Available Transfer Capability (ATC) of a transmission system is a measure of unutilized capability of the system at a given time and depends on a number of factors such as the system generation dispatch, system load level, load distribution in the network, power transfers between areas, network topology, and the limits imposed on the transmission network due to thermal, voltage and stability considerations. This paper describes a method for determining the ATC between any two locations in a transmission system (single-area or multiarea) under a given set of system operating conditions. The method also provides ATC's for selected transmission paths between the two locations in the system and identifies the most limiting facilities in determining the network's ATC. In addition, the method can be used to compute multiple ATCs between more than one pair of locations. The proposed method is illustrated using the IEEE reliability test system (RTS).