20th Iranian Conference on Electrical Engineering, (ICEE2012), May 15-17, Tehran, Iran
A TC Improvement and Losses Estimation
Considering Dynamic Transmission Line Ratings
M. Mahmoudian
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Isfahan University of Technology
Isfahan, Iran
m.mahmoudian@ec.iut.ac.ir
Abstract- In the last few years, Reconstruction in electrical
industry has led to optimal using of existing transmission lines
capacity in order to reach to maximum economic efficiency.
Improvements in communication technologies and sensors make
possible real time calculation of transmission lines thermal
capacity, which is called dynamic rating. On the other hand, in
energy markets, system conditions and transmission capacities for
future operations are the essential keys. Operators would like to
know the amount of the system losses and also Available Transfer
Capability (ATC) which effect on the market players' activities.
Improvement in losses estimation and ATC calculation, considering
dynamic transmission lines rating, instead of static rating, is
discussed in this paper. Losses estimation is performed by using
repetitive calculation of lines resistance based on weather
conditions. It is shown that using of dynamic rating has a very
important effect in ATC calculations. A program is developed for
calculation of dynamic rating in MA TLAB software, but system
modeling and calculation is performed by DigSILENT package.
Data transfer between two software is possible through a link which
is created by using DigSILENT Programming Language (DPL).
IEEE 6-bus and 30-bus test systems have been used and modified
as test systems.
Keywords- ATC; Dynamic rating; Dynamic resistance; Loss
estimation.
I. INTRODUCTION
In the last few years, capacity increasing of existing power
transmission lines has been a challenge, because generation
and consumption are increasing with a more rapid rate
comparing with transmission capability. furthermore, power
transfer capability of existing transmission lines is limited by
thermal, voltage and stability constraints. thermal constraint is
one of the most important and limiting factors. for example,
III thermal constraints are determined for the north path of
California's power system but only few number of voltage and
stability limits are considered [1]. The result of this mismatch
between generation and transmission capacities is transmission
system congestion. Generally, congestion of transmission
system is one of main factors in energy crisis and is
undesirable for all power system users. Transmission capacity
uprating by building new lines or changing the lines equipment
is so expensive, also in many countries getting permits for new
lines is too hard [2]. Therefore, transmission system operators
pushed to use existing right-of-way and capacities of
transmission lines.
978-1-4673-1148-9112/$3l.00 ©2012 IEEE
G. R. Yousefi
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Isfahan University of Technology
Isfahan, Iran
yousefi@cc.iut.ac.ir
The term of dynamic rating is used for the transmission
lines thermal capacity under a specific operation and weather
conditions. Thermal capacity of a line is equal to the amount of
current which if it flows through the line, line temperature will
reach to the maximum allowable temperature [3]. The capacity
of a transmission line is conventionally limited by conductor
thermal rating as a static line rating. This rating is determined
based on the presumed worst weather conditions. Therefore
with using of static rating, the System Operator (SO) cannot
use the real lines capacity. Dynamic thermal rating is the real
thermal capacity of a line which would be calculated based on
real weather conditions, and it is usually greater than static
thermal capacity. For a bare stranded conductor, main factors
in dynamic thermal rating determination are conductor
situations and construction, conductor temperature (T c) ,
ambient air temperature (Ta), wind speed (Vw) and wind
direction (<Dw)' <Dw is angle between the wind direction and the
conductor axis. Wind speed and its direction are more effective
factors among the others [4]. Implementation of dynamic
thermal rating strategy is generally different from static rating,
because determination of weather conditions is only done for
next 5 to 15 minutes. In Fig. 1, we have calculated and showed
dynamic and static ratings for a typical line, that is done every
15 minutes for 24 hours. We will talk about improved static
rating in section IV.
2000 ,,---,---,--,--,-,
1800
1000 . ..........�....................
Improved Static Rating
800�--------------------�---------------1
600
Static Rating
400
200
16 18 20 22
Hour of day (h)
Fig. I. Static and dynamic thermal ratings
404
 As shown in Fig. 1, dynamic thermal rating is more than
static thennal rating, but it is volatile and exact forecasting is
impossible. Quasi-dynamic rating is calculated for a longer
time period, therefore its forecasting is easier than calculating
dynamic thermal rating [5]. Fig. 1, shows an improvement in
static thermal rating which is possible through the calculation
of dynamic rating for a long time period. We will talk about
improved static rating in section IV. Improvement of static
rating is very important in offline calculations such as
Available Transfer Capability (ATC) calculation that will be
analyzed in this paper.
II. OVERHEAD LINE DYNAMIC RATING CALCULATION
Steady-state heat balance for a bar conductor can be written
as (1), with respect to this fact that total imported heat energy
(per unit length) would be equal to the total heat losses (in
W/m). In a conductor, heat equilibrium could be calculated
using relation between heat losses due to convection (qc) and
radiation (qr), and imported heat due to heat gain rate from sun
(qs), and the conductor resistance R(Te), in which Te is the
conductor temperature[6].
(1)
The steady state thermal rating which is related to the
weather conditions can be calculated through the determination
of maximum allowable conductor temperature, Tc, and solving
(1) for extracting the conductor current, which is denoted by I
in amperes. Dynamic thennal rating means solving this
equation for a short time period, corresponding to the weather
conditions variations, instead of using the worst weather
conditions as it applies for the static thermal rating
calculations.
A. Conductor resistance calculation
As described in [6], heat losses due to convection and
radiation are nonlinearly dependent on conductor temperature.
And heat gain rate from sun is independent from it. So the
calculation of conductor temperature at a specific weather and
system operating conditions needs to solving the heat balance
equation for conductor temperature in terms of current by an
iterative process which is described as below:
a) Assume a conductor temperature.
b) Calculate the corresponding heat losses.
c) Calculate the conductor current that yields this
conductor temperature by means of(1).
d) Compare the calculated current to the real conductor
current.
e) Increase or decrease the conductor temperature
until the calculated current be equal to the real
current.
Calculation of the conductor resistance in a specific
conditions is possible if conductor temperature is known.
Generally, the relation between conductor resistance and its
temperature is not linear, but for dynamic rating calculation,
conductor resistance can be linearized by (2).
405
R(T )c
= [ R(TT )
high
-
- T
ow
:
R(T; ) (T - T )+ T
R( )
. c low low
(2)
high low
In (2), Thigh and Tlow are the maximum and milllmUill
conductor temperatures which corresponding AC resistances
are specified for them and are denoted by R(Thigh) and R(Tlow),
respectively. Transmission line resistance is a function of its
conductor temperature and conductor temperature is also a
function of the weather conditions and conductor current.
Detennination of the conductor current is depended on the line
resistance. On the other word, considering static resistance for
the transmission lines causes inaccuracy in power system
calculations. Conventionally, power flow calculations are
done by using constant resistances for transmission lines
which are an average between R(Thigh) and R(Tlow). But the
line resistance is not a constant value in different weather and
operating system conditions. The result of the variations in the
lines resistances is admittance matrix alternations, which
would lead to change in result of the power system
calculations. Variations of the transmission lines resistances
are too small. That means, there is a little changes between
static and dynamic resistances. But, loss estimation can show
the maximum effect of using dynamic resistances compared to
static and constant resistances. Fig. 2 shows the proposed
algorithm for estimating the lines resistances based on the
weather conditions prediction.
B. Interface between two so{twares
In this paper, system modeling and calculations is done by
DigSILENT package, but dynamic rating calculations is
developed in MATLAB software. Since output data from each
program need to be imported to another software, an interface
has been created by using DigSILENT Programming
Language (DPL). Fig. 3, shows the interface structure between
DigSILENT and MATLAB.
Calculation ofthe Line Static Resistance
Weather Calculation of
Conditions the Line
Prediction Temperature and
Resistance
Calculation ofthe Line Rating
Fig. 2. Estimating the line resistance algorithm

DigSILENT
(Read the tlag and data, System calculations, data exporting, change the tlag )
• optimal power flow solution. These methods solve an
Text file
(Flag , Data)
; •
MATLAB
(Read the flag and data, Dynamic rating calculations, data exporting, change the flag)
Fig. 3. Oata transfer between OigSILENT and MATLAB
Ill. AVAILABLE TRANSFER CAPABILITY
ATC is defined as the amount of transfer capability which
is remaining in the transmission network for future
commercial activity over and above already committed uses
[7]. ATC concept is very important for electrical energy
markets through determination of the market players'
activities. Calculation of ATC is only with respect to the
physical and electrical characteristics and the network
capabilities, and it is not dependent on the market structure. In
fact, ATC is a bridge between network technical specifications
and commercial activities of the market players. Therefore
ATC calculations would keep balance between technical and
commercial indices. Mathematically, ATC is defined as the
Total Transfer Capability (TTC) minus the Transmission
Reliability Margin (TRM), minus the Capacity Benefit Margin
(CBM), minus the summation of Existing Transmission
Commitments (ETC). Equation (3) shows the ATC calculation
formula.
ATC = TTC TRM CBM ETC (3)
- - -
and stability limits. Other methods are based on load flow
calculations. Continues Power Flow (CPF) method [15] and
Repeated Power Flow (RPF) method [16] need to repeat
power flow solutions. A few methods are constructed based on
Weather optimization problem with respect to equality and inequality
conditions constraints. Security Constraint Optimal Power Flow (SCOPF)
method maximizes the power transfer between two regions
and assumes that all participation parameters in OPF problem
can be changed in solving progress, but this method is
inefficient for deregulated environments [17]. Transfer-base
Security Optimal Power Flow (TSCOPF) method [16], is more
compatible with deregulated environments because it only
optimizes the changes in generation and consumption in order
(ATC) to reach maximum power transfer between two regions. The
main advantage of RPF method is that variation of generations
or consumptions (electricity market participants' behaviors)
could be reflected in TIC problem. Hence, RPF method is
applied for TTC calculation in this paper.
RPF method increases the loads in a sink area and injected
real power in a source area, in incremental steps, Ie, until a
limit occurred. Mathematical formulation of TTC using RPF
method can be expressed as follows [16]:
Maximize A
(4)
Subject to:
n
PGi - POi = l]ud!ujl(Gij cos 5ij + Bij sin 5ij ) (5)
j=l
n
Q G' - QD' = � · I {G-·1.1 sin 5··1.1
" IV- Ilu.l� g. cos5.. ) (6)
j=l
I I I
-
�l 1.1
IUdmin :::; Iud:::; ludmax

TTC is the amount of electric power that can be

transferred over the interconnected transmission network in a (7)
reliable manner while meeting all of a specific set of defined (8)
pre- and post-contingencies in the system. TRM is defined as
that amount of transmission transfer capability necessary to Tn (5) and (6), POi, PDi, QDi are changed in the flowing
ensure that the interconnected transmission network is secure way:
under a reasonable range of uncertainties in system conditions
and CBM is defined as that amount of transmission transfer
capability reserved by load serving entities to ensure access to
PGi =P3i (1+AKGi) (9)
generation from interconnected systems to meet generation POi =P8i(I+AKoi) (10)
reliability requirements. The concept of CBM is locally but
TRM has a wide concept and is related to the system security
Q Oi = Qgi (1+AKOd (11)
margin [7] , [8]. ATC calculation can be done between two
buses or regions of an interconnected power system [9]. where:
Ie: a scalar parameter that represents the increase in a load
A. ATC calculation methods or generation bus.
The main part of ATC calculation is related to TTC PGi, QGi: active and reactive power generation at bus i.
calculation. Until now, so many methods have been proposed PDi, QDi: active and reactive load demand at bus i.
for TIC calculation. Some of them are faster than others, but Gij, Bij: real and imaginary part of the ij-th element of the
their results are not accurate .Fast methods such as Power admittance matrix.
Transfer Distribution Factor (PTDF) methods [10]-[14], only
use a linear approximation for the thermal rating in order to
IUil mill. , I U.I· 1 max : lower and upper limits of voltage

determine ATC value. These methods do not consider voltage magnitude at bus i.

406
 Iud: voltage magnitude at bus i.
bij : voltage angle difference between bus i and bus j.
Sij : apparent power flow in line ij.
Sij max : maximum allowable apparent power or thermal
limit of line ij.
P8i : base active power generation at bus i.
P8i' Qgi : base active and reactive load demand at bus i.
K Gi, K Di : factors that used to specity the change rate
generation and load as A varies.
When A=Amax, TTC level in each case (normal conditions
or N-l contingencies) can be calculated as follows:
(12)
iEsink area iEsink area
where k determines the case number. Equation (13)
shows the final value for TTC:
bus system is shown in Fig. 4. There are 11 transmission lines
in this system. Predicted hour-ahead weather parameters for
each line is reported in Table T. Based on these weather
parameters, dynamic resistances are calculated and compared
to static values in Fig 5. The results show that variations of
line current and bus voltage are negligible when dynamic or
static ratings are applied. But sum of losses in all lines can
shows a large difference between considering static or
dynamic resistance. As shown in Fig. 6, system losses is
estimated 4.12 MW with using static resistances but it is
in estimated as 3.95 MW when dynamic resistances are applied.
This shows 4% difference in estimated losses for the next
hour.
'" r---t-----+oe---i

(13)

Loss Of Load Expected (LOLE) criterion is used for

CBM calculation. CBM and TRM calculation methods are
described in [16]. In this paper, CBM margin is ignored but Fig. 4. IEEE 6-bus test system
TRM margin is considered through reducing TTC by a fixed
percentage. Per [16], in this paper, we have considered 4%,
TABLE I. Weather parameters for 6-bus test system
for this reduction. Line Ta(°C) Vw (m/s) <D ( ")

B. Dynamic A TC calculation line 1-2 45 0.6 90

In [18], ATC calculation is performed using PTDF method linel-4 40 2 90

based on the worst weather conditions and then ATC has been linel-5 38 5 80

modified by calculation of ATC variations using real time line2-3 38 10 85

weather conditions. Before real time, calculation of initial line2-4 40 0 00

ATC level based on the worst weather conditions and by using
line2-5 45 0 00
PTDF method, can result inaccurate estimation of ATC. Also
line2-6 37 3 75
base level of ATC values are very important in congestion
line3-5 37 3 75
management methods on day-ahead markets, which are known
as ATC allocation methods [19]. Therefore weather conditions line3-6 37 3 75

of base case calculations would be predicted and applied in line4-6 42 1.5 90

ATC determination. This will be possible by rewriting (8) as a line5-6 37 1 80

function of weather conditions, that is shown in (14).

(14)
Static Resis tan ce Dynamic Resistance
,-.,
Tn this paper, we use (14) instead of (8) in ATC !=

calculation. ATC will be improved through the increasing of � 0.085

G
thermal limits, generally. Because dynamic rating is often '-'

(!)
0.08 ---=--

<:;)
more than static rating. 0 .0 75
B
TV. CASE STUDIES AND RESULTS .�
'"
(!)
0.07

i [
P::: 0 .065

A. Losses Estimation 0.06

I [I
IEEE 6-bus test system is used in this section to
demonstrate the proposed method in calculation of dynamic
resistance and line rating. The single line diagram of IEEE 6-
Fig. 5. Static and dynamic resistances

407
 TABLE II. The worst weather conditions and ATC level
4.15
4.1
4.05

3.95
3.9
TABLE III. ATC variations based on the weather parameters forecasting
3.85
AT. AVw M> TTC ATC AATC
Static Dynamic
(DC) (m/s) (D) (MW) (MW) (MW)
Resistance
-2 0 0 111.7 107.23 +4. 9
Fig. 6. System losses estimation
-5 0 0 114. 5 109.92 +7. 68

Area (B) -4 +0.1 0 120.04 115.24 +13

� � � , Area (A)
28 -5 +0.2 +20 125.7 l20.67 +18.43

TABLE IV. TTC levels for main contingencies

Case TTC(MW) Limiting factor
Line 22-24 outage 106. 5 Line 10-21
Line 13-30 outage 126.84 Line 6-8
Line 15-23 outage 131.84 Line 23-24
As it could be extracted from Table Ill, if the ambient air
temperature reaches to 38DC, the ATC will increase about 4.9
MW. It should be noted that when overall area temperature is
decreased, all lines thennal capacities are increased. Hence,
total transfer capability is improved. Furthennore, wind speed
and wind direction are effective on the lines thermal
capacities, but these two parameters cannot be predicted for all
29 the transmission lines in a power system, exactly. So, these
I
two parameters are considered conservatively, which means
� _... �

� � � � � - Interconnecti on- � �
�
Fig. 7. IEEE modified 30- bus test system
,
B. ATC Improvement
Over a specific time, static thermal rating could be
improved with respect to the overall weather conditions for
transmission lines that are located on a specific area, which
indicated by improved static rating as shown in Fig. 1. Static
thermal rating could be increased up to the point that in the
90% of the time, dynamic thermal rating is greater than
improved static thermal rating.
Modified IEEE 30-bus test system is used in this section to
demonstrate the effect of thermal capacity modification on the
ATC level. The single line diagram of the modified IEEE 30-
bus test system is shown in Fig. 7. In order to evaluate ATC,
the system is divided into two areas, area A and area B, which
are known as source and sink areas, respectively. Four tie­
lines connected between two areas, as shown in Fig. 7.
The worst weather conditions and corresponding ATC
level (based on static ratings) is shown in Table IT.
Then, based on four weather conditions forecasting
scenarios, TTC and ATC levels are calculated and reported in
Table Ill.
minimum wind speed and direction in a specific area are
applied for thermal capacity calculations.
Also it is indicated that only few numbers of lines are
limited in a specific power transaction. In the other words,
dynamic thermal rating calculations, based on weather
parameter measurement or prediction, is only necessary for
limited lines that can be demonstrated when ATC calculation
program is running. As illustrated in Table TV, increasing of
three lines thennal capacities can lead to increasing the base
TTC level from 106.5 to 131.84 MW. Table TV shows three
contingencies that are limiting TTC more than other
contingencies in transferring power from Area A to B. TTC
level for the other (N-1) contingencies are calculated more
than 145 MW and have not reported.
V. CONCLUSION
As showed in this paper, implementation of real weather
conditions in transmission lines parameter calculations will
lead to a more accurate power system solution. Tn the other
words, power system calculations can be more accurate and
compatible to the real system measurements, if real weather
and physical conditions take into account. Tn this paper we
showed significant effect of using of dynamic resistance in
loss estimation. And optimal using of transmission thennal
capacity without considering real thermal lines capacity is

408
impossible. Static ratings can be improved by forecasting day­
ahead weather conditions. Conventionally, the worst weather
conditions are used for detennination of static ratings.
Improvement of static ratings demonstrated on ATC
calculations. ATC improvement means increasing the
capability of power transferring capability in an energy market
and therefore it will reduce the overloads and/or congestions,
and related costs.
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Mohammad Mahmoudian Esfahani was born
in Isfahan, Iran in 1985. He received his B.Sc. degree
in Electrical Engineering from SRTTU (Shahid
Rajaee Teacher Training University), Tehran, Iran, in
2010 and his M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering
from lUT (Isfahan University of Technology),
Isfahan, Iran, in 2012. His research interests include
power system operation, power market and power
system dynamics.
Gholam Reza Yousefi was born in Shahreza, Iran in
1971. He received his B.Sc. degree in Electrical
Engineering from IUT (Isfahan University of
Technology), Isfahan, Iran, in 1994, and his M.Sc. and
his Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Tarbiat
Modares University, Tehran, Iran, in 1997 and 2001,
respectively. He had been with Midwest Service Center,
Hobart, IN, USA, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company
(PG&E), San Francisco, USA. Currently, he is with IUT (Isfahan
University of Technology) as an Assistant Professor. Power systems
operation and planning, as well as restructuring are his research interests.