EMTP is an acronym for ElectroMagnetic Transients Program. It is usually part of a battery of software tools targeting a slice of the spectrum of design and operation problems presented by Electric Power Systems to the Electrical Engineer, that of the so called "electromagnetic transients" and associated insulation issues. Originating in the doctoral thesis of Dr. Hermann Dommel in Germany in the mid sixties, and brought up to its present robust and industry strength status by the cooperation of many professionals of power engineering led by the two champions: Dr. Dommel (currently with the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, B.C., Canada), and Dr. Scott Meyer (from the Bonneville Power Administration in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.). Both have been awarded the highest recognition that the Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) grants to some of its members: they are both FIEEE (Fellows of the IEEE).
There are two basic streams of EMTP programs: those derived directly from the code written under the project of BPA's during several decades, and those written from scratch but that use the algorithmic and modeling findings of the original creators; findings that are described in detail in multiple journal papers and in the famous EMTP Theory Book. Examples of EMTP type programs are EMTP-RV, MT-EMTP, ATP, RTDS Technologies, and PSCAD-EMTDC.