CALCULATION OF AVAILABLE TRANSFER CAPABILITY

(ATC)

In a vertically integrated market, the inter-area tie lines are designed only to address the reliability,
system security and system restoration purposes. This integration of various systems becomes a
market need in the deregulated era. Thus, inter-area tie lines become means of bulk power transfers
on a regular basis from sources of cheap generation to loads. In other words, due to deregulation,
the paradigm of grid integration has shifted from regional self-sufficiency to optimal utilization of
resources across large geographical areas. Thus, it becomes imperative on the part of system
operator to quantify the Available Transfer Capability (ATC) of the network and allocate the same to
the market participants in an efficient manner.

Generally, the non-market based methods rely upon the information about the ATC in order to take
a decision while allowing the next set of transactions. Thus, calculation of ATC gains a lot of
importance under such market structures. In the early days of deregulation in USA, the ATC values
for the next hour and for each hour into the future would be placed on a website known as the open
access same-time information system (OASIS), to be operated by the ISO. Anyone wishing to send
a power transaction on the ISO's transmission system would access OASIS web pages and use the
ATC information available there to determine if the transmission system could accommodate the
transaction, and to reserve the necessary transmission service.

Next section provides formal definitions of some of the common terms pertaining to ATC.

Definition of Various Terms

Available Transfer Capability (ATC

It is a measure of the transfer capability remaining in the physical transmission network for further
commercial activity over and above already committed uses. Mathematically, ATC is defined as the
Total Transfer Capability (TTC) less the Transmission Reliability Margin (TRM), less the sum of
existing transmission commitments (which includes retail customer service) and the Capacity Benefit
Margin (CBM
ATC = TTC - TRM - Existing Transmission Commitments (including CBM)

Total Transfer Capability (TTC)

It is defined as the amount of electric power that can be transferred over the interconnected
transmission network in a reliable manner while meeting all of the specific set of defined pre and
post contingency system conditions.

Transmission Reliability Margin (TRM)

It is defined as the amount of transmission transfer capability necessary to ensure that the
interconnected transmission network is secure under a reasonable range of uncertainties in system
conditions.

Capacity Benefit Margin (CBM)

It is defined as the amount of transmission transfer capability reserved by load serving entities to
ensure that the interconnected systems do meet generation reliability requirements.

The NERC report [24] brings out the difference between “transfer capability” and “transmission
capacity”. According to this report, the ‘capacity' specifically mentions the rating of the equipment,
for example, the ampacity of the conductor. On the other hand, the ‘capability' depends upon
generation, customer demand and the conditions in a transmission system for the given time period.
Thus, the ‘capacity' of a circuit may not change much from time to time. However, the ‘capability'
always changes with the time by virtue of changes in the system condition.

As mentioned earlier, ability of the network system to reliably deliver power is limited by physical
and electrical characteristics of the system. These limits are: Thermal, Voltage and Stability. During
the varying conditions of power system, one of these limits plays a major role in deciding the transfer
capability. Determining which limit is binding during a particular time is a challenging task and makes
computation of ATC an involved task.

Many methods have been suggested to calculate the ATC. The methods differ on the basis of the
power flow model being employed, the system aspects considered, the compelling limits under
consideration and some other factors. However, a broad way of classifying methods is based on the
type of limit considered, i.e., Thermal limit, Voltage limit or the Angular stability limit. The DC power
flow methods take into consideration only the thermal limits. The AC Optimal power flow (OPF)
methods consider thermal as well as voltage limits. Then, there is another version called
Continuation power flow method (CPF). It considers a series of power system solutions to be solved
and tested for limits. The amount of transfer is gradually increased from the base case until a binding
limit is encountered. Ejebe et al. [31] have described a method based on continuation power flow,
incorporating limits of reactive power flows, voltage limits, as well as voltage collapse and line flow
limits. Stability constrained methods require transient studies to be carried over a case developed
with anticipated scenario. Christie et al. [1] have proposed a method based on DC power transfer
distribution factors (PTDF). This utilizes DC load flow based formulation, and computation of
simultaneous ATC has also been considered using an optimization based approach. Let us see the
details of DC power flow based ATC calculation next.

ATC Calculation using PTDF and LODF based on DC Model

One way of calculating ATC from node A to node B is to use DC load flow (explained later) repetitively
by increasing the amount of transaction until a limit of any of the corridor is reached. However, this
is computationally inefficient. Instead, the Power Transfer Distribution Factor (PTDF) can be used to
calculate the maximum allowable flow for a given pair of injection and take-off points. It is also
necessary to consider the effects of contingencies like line outages. This can be achieved using Line
Outage Distribution Factor (LODF). Let us first see the details of DC load flow model.

DC Load Flow Model

Following are the assumptions when DC model is employed instead of AC model:

 Voltage magnitudes are constant.
 Only angles of complex bus voltages vary.
 The variation in angle is small.
 Transmission lines are lossless.

These assumptions create a model that is a reasonable first approximation for the real power system,
which is only slightly nonlinear in normal steady state operation. The model has advantages for
speed of computation, and also has some useful properties like linearity and superposition.

With these assumptions, power flows over transmission lines connecting bus i and bus j is given as:

....................................................................................................................................(
4.1)
Where,

line inductive reactance in per unit

 phase angle at bus l

phase angle at bus m

The total power flowing into the bus i, Pi, is the algebraic sum of generation and load at the bus and
is called a bus power injection. Thus,

......................................................................................................................(4.2)
This can be expressed in a matrix form as:

.................................................................................................................................(4.
3)
Where, the elements of the susceptance matrix BX are functions of line reactances . One node is
assigned as a reference node by making its angle zero and deleting corresponding row and column

in matrix. Thus,

............................................................................................................................(4.4)

The dimension of obtained is . Let us augment it by adding zero column and

row corresponding to reference bus. The angles in equation 4.3 can be found out as

.................................................................................................................................(4.
5)
Thus, power flow over line lm can be found out using equation 4.1.

Power Transfer Distribution Factor (PTDF)

From the power transfer point of view, a transaction is a specific amount of power that is injected
into the system at one bus by a generator and drawn at another bus by a load. The coefficient of
linear relationship between the amount of a transaction and flow on a line is represented by PTDF.
It is also called sensitivity because it relates the amount of one change - transaction amount - to
another change - line power flow.

PTDF is the fraction of amount of a transaction from one bus to another that flows over a

transmission line. is the fraction of a transaction from bus i to bus j that flows over a
transmission line connecting buses l and m.
 .....................................................................................................................(4.6)

Calculation of PTDF Using DC Model

Suppose there exists only one transaction in the system. Let the transaction be of 1 MW from bus i

to bus j. Then, the corresponding entries in equation 4.7 will be: and . All other entries
will be zero. From equation 4.5, we get

..........................................................................................................................(4.7)
Similarly,

...........................................................................................................................(4.8)
Thus,

............................................................................................................................(4.9)

.......................................................................................................................(4.10)
Using equations 4.9, 4.10 and 4.1, the PTDF can be calculated as

...................................................................................................(4.11)

Reactance of transmission line connecting buses l and m

Entry lth row and ith column of the bus reactance matrix X
The change in line flow associated with a new transaction is then
 ...................................................................................................................(4.12)
Where,
l and m buses at the ends of the line being monitored
i and j from and to bus numbers for the proposed new transactions

New transaction MW amount

ATC calculation Using PTDF

ATC is determined by recognizing the new flow on the line from node l to node m, due to a transaction

from node i to node j. The new flow on the line is the sum of original flow and the change.

............................................................................................................(4.13)

Where, is the base case flow on the line and is the magnitude of proposed transfer. If the

limit on line lm, the maximum power that can be transferred without overloading line lm, is ,
then,

....................................................................................................................(4.14)

is the maximum allowable transaction from node i to node j constrained by the line from node
l to node m. ATC is the minimum of the maximum allowable transactions over all lines.

Using the above equation, any proposed transaction for a specific hour may be checked by
calculating ATC. If it is greater than the amount of the proposed transaction, the transaction is
allowed. If not, the transaction must be rejected or limited to the ATC.

.......................................................................................................(4.15)
Using the above equation, any proposed transaction for a specific hour may be checked by
calculating ATC. If it is greater than the amount of the proposed transaction, the transaction is
allowed. If not, the transaction must be rejected or limited to the ATC.

Numerical Example of ATC Calculation Using PTDF

Consider a sample 3 bus system as shown in Figure 4.2.

 Figure 4.2: Sample 3 bus system

Bus Load
Generation
No (MW)
1 200 0

2 700 100

3 0 800

Table 4.2: Bus data for sample system

Line Max. Power

From To
Bus Bus
Reactance capacity
(pu) (MW)
1 2 0.1 600

2 3 0.033 200

3 3 0.1 600

Table 4.3: Line data for sample system

If we treat bus 1 as the reference bus, then the matrix X is obtained as

 ......................................................................................................................(4.16)

.....................................................................................................................(4.17)

Now let us calculate PTDF for a transaction between bus 1 and 3. Thus, PTDF on various corridors
using equation 4.11 can be given as:

............................................................................................................(4.18)

...........................................................................................................(4.19)

.........................................................................................................(4.20)
Similar calculations are done for transaction between buses 2 and 3, the PTDFs are given as

........................................................................................................(4.21)

.........................................................................................................(4.22)

........................................................................................................(4.23)
Now suppose, there are two transactions, one of 200 MW between buses 1 and 3, and the other of
600 MW between bus 2 and 3. Then, the power flow on all corridors due to these transactions can
be given as:
 ..............................................................................................(4.24)

The above equation establishes the base case flows of a system with two transactions in place. Now
let us calculate ATC for transferring power between bus 1 and 2 and also between bus 2 and 3. In
order to calculate ATC, we make use of equations 4.11, 4.12 and 4.13. First let us calculate ATC
between buses 1 and 3. Using equation 4.12,

.............................................................................................. .(4.25)

................................................................................................ .(4.26)

.................................................................................................(4.27)
Using equation 4.13, ATC between buses 1 and 3 is given as 179 MW. Similarly, for ATC between
buses 2 and 3,

...............................................................................................(4.28)

.................................................................................................(4.29)

...............................................................................................(4.30)
As per equation 4.13, ATC between buses 2 and 3 is 199.3 MW.

ATC Calculation Using PTDF and LODF

The calculation of ATC should also take into account the effect of line contingency. In other words,
it should indicate the available transfer capacity after considering the changes in line flows due to
the largest line contingency. For this, the concept of Line Outage Distribution Factor (LODF) is
introduced and used for ATC calculation.

Line Outage Distribution Factor (LODF):

When an outage occurs, the power flowing over the outaged line is redistributed onto the remaining

lines in the system. The LODF is the measure of this redistribution. is the fraction of the
power flowing on the line rs before it is outaged, which now flows over a line from l to m.

...........................................................................................................................(4.31)
The LODF is given by

..............................................................................................(4.32)
Where,

reactance of line connecting bus l and m

entry in lth row and rth column of bus reactance matrix X

number of circuits connecting bus l and bus m

Consider a transaction from bus i to bus j and the outage of a line from bus r to bus s (line rs). The
change in flow on line rs due to the transaction is

.......................................................................................................................(4.33)

When line rs is outaged, part of the flow appears on line lm. s resulting from both the outage of the
line rs and a new transaction from bus i to bus j is given by

..........................................................................................(4.34)

The maximum contingency limited transfer from bus i to bus j, limited by line lm, with the outage
of line rs, is given by

................................................................................................(4.35)

Where, indicates the post contingency flow limit on line lm.

To find the contingency limited ATC, all possible combinations of outaged lines and limiting lines
must be checked, as well as steady state transfer limit.

.............................................................................................(4.36)
Using the above equations, any proposed transaction for the specific hour may be checked by
calculating the ATC. If it is greater than the amount of proposed transaction, the transaction is
allowed. If not, the transaction must be rejected or limited to the ATC.

Calculation of PTDF Using AC Model

In the previous section we have seen PTDF calculation using DC power flow model. But this involves
many assumptions which lead to inaccurate results. More accurate PTDFs can be calculated using
AC power flow model. Line power flows are simply function of the voltages and angles at its terminal
buses. So PTDF is a function of these voltage and angle sensitivities.

Consider an n node system with nodes1,......,g as PV nodes (generator buses) and g+1,...,n as the
PQ nodes (load buses). Bus 1 is taken as slack bus. A transaction is defined by a set of four
parameters (t, i, j, Pt) where t is the transaction number, i and j are the source and sink nodes and
Pt is the MWs transacted. The change in flow of an arbitrary line lm can be evaluated by sensitivity
analysis as follows.

.....................................................................................(4.37)
From the converged base case Load Flow solution we have,

....................................................................................................................(4.38)
where J is load flow Jacobian. For a MW power transaction number t,

...............................................................................................................................(4.3
9)

..............................................................................................................................(4.4
0)
.................................................................................................................................(4.
41)

................................................................................................................................(4.
42)
where, . Substituting 4.6-4.9 in 4.5 and then in 4.4,

..................................................................................(4.43)