SUMMARYThe power transfer capability (PTC) of AC transmission lines is increased by using series capacitor and shunt reactor compensation. This paper presents a method to calculate the degree of series capacitor and shunt reactor compensation in order to increase the power transfer capability of overhead transmission lines. This method is based on linear programming which takes into consideration line modelling, series and shunt compensation, voltage and reactive power constraints, and power factor before and after compensation. The proposed method has been applied to the existing 500 kV transmission line interconnected between the High-Dam generation station and Cairo load center in Egypt.