Design Study of SMES System Cooled by Thermo-Siphon With Liquid Hydrogen for Effective use of Renewable Energy

In order to use effectively renewable energy sources, we propose a new system, called Advanced Superconducting Power Conditioning System (ASPCS), that is composed of SMES and Fuel Cell-Electrolyzer (FC-EL) in connection with a liquid hydrogen station for vehicles. The new system will compensate the fluctuating renewable energy sources with SMES having characteristics of quick response and large I/O power, and with FC-EL having characteristics of moderate response and large storage capacity. The SMES coil with an MgB₂ conductor operated at 20 K is cooled with a thermo-siphon cooling system by using cryogen from the liquid hydrogen station. The necessary minimum storage capacity of SMES is estimated as 50 MJ for compensating output power of 1 MW. A four-pole SMES coil is designed by using stranded cable concept. The design study of the SMES coil composed of the MgB₂ conductor and the thermo-siphon cooling system is reported.