Design and demonstration of superconducting power link

A European consortium has progressed towards a superconducting power link (SUPERPOLI) demonstration which, for the first time, combines low loss power transmission with a fault current limiter. An industrial application can be, for example, a medium voltage self-limiting power link between a generator and a high voltage transformer in a power plant. The aim is a 1 GVA range power link with a length of 200 m, a nominal phase current of 28 kA_rms and a phase-to-phase voltage of 20 kV_rms. Furthermore, AC losses, limits for stable operation, behaviour under overload conditions, and integration to the power grid were examined, and a techno-economical evaluation was made for this full-scale device. A 2 m long one-phase functional model with a nominal current of 2 kA and nominal voltage of 20 kV was constructed and tested at an industrial site. The functional model was constructed with two superconductors, Bi₂Sr₂Ca₁Cu₂O₈ bulk material and Y₁Ba₂Cu₃O₇ coated conductors. The results confirmed that a reproductible fault current limiter in the MW range shows a high potential for SUPERPOLI in industrial applications.