Summary This paper revisits three classical results of circuit theory: the Thévenin theorem, the maximum power transfer theorem, and Bode's bilinear theorem, as well as its multilinear generalization due to Lin. Combining these results, it proposes a new measurement‐based approach that provides a practical new version of the ‘maximum’ power transfer theorem for n‐ports terminated with uncoupled loads, in the sense that it allows a functional algebraic description of the entire power hypersurface as a function of the chosen port parameters. This is more useful than merely computing port parameters for maximum power transfer, because the power hypersurface can be used along with constraints on port parameters, such as voltages, to find their values for optimal viable power transfer. An example of maximum power transfer to two chosen load buses is given for the IEEE‐30 bus system, with voltage constraints, in order to show applicability to practical cases. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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