Continuation power flow considering area net interchange constraint

•Outage impacts on power transfer considering area interchange control is evaluated.•Transfer capacity considering the AIC and multiple regulating buses is determined.•The effects of the loop flow are highlighted.

Interconnected power systems not only allow to the areas to provide mutual assistance, but also import or export energy with respect to optimize energy resources assessment where, a cost reduction involved in the generation of power required to meet its demand. To determine the required control actions, in the planning and operation stages, it is important to verify the loading margins for both the normal operation and the different conditions of contingencies that may eventually occur. In this paper a continuation power flow that allows obtaining the loading margin and maximum active power transfer considering the area interchange control is proposed. From the results of the IEEE systems (9 and 118 buses), a difference of up to twelve percent in the active power transfer capacity is verified compared to the cases without area interchange control. The method also highlights the effects of the loop flow which occur as a consequence of the existence of parallel paths in the interconnected network.