Abstract: In recent years, with the continuous increase in the proportion of clean energy and the expanding scale of the trans-regional and trans-provincial electricity transactions, the electricity market in China is in need to make full use of the transmission channels and avoid the network congestion lowering the trading efficiency. Judging from the construction experiences of the typical power markets in Northern Europe and the United States, the available transfer capability (ATC), as an important technical indicator to measure the power exchanges between zones, plays a key role in improving the efficiency of the transmission channel utilization or reducing the risks of network congestion. Therefore, it is necessary to closely integrate the practices of the typical foreign power markets in the application of ATC to form a certain reference and enlightenment for China and conduct the in-depth research on how to effectively apply the ATC in the power market in China. This paper first introduces the definition of the ATC and its calculation methods. On this basis, the application experiences of the ATC in the typical foreign power markets represented by Northern Europe and the United States are compared. Then, from the perspective of China's power grid construction and power market development status, this paper points out the necessity for the electricity market in China to consider the ATC and the relevant key issues. Finally, the solutions to the key issues of the ATC adapted to the power market environment in China are discussed.