HTS Fault Current Limiters—First Commercial Devices for Distribution Level Grids in Europe

Nexans SuperConductors GmbH (NSC) has successfully designed, built and tested the first two HTS Fault Current Limiter (FCL) systems on a commercial basis for two different application cases in Europe. Both systems are live in the customer grids since last quarter of 2009: The first one is installed in UK where it acts as a bus bar coupler in a MV grid. The second one is protecting the auxiliary supply of a brown coal power station in Germany. The superconducting components are based on bulk melt cast processed BSCCO-2212 material. NSC masters the full product chain for the new systems starting from raw material powder, via HTS tubes, FCL components and modules to the complete systems. For the second system, NSC has also integrated the ancillary equipment for cooling and has successfully commissioned the system at the customer site. Prior to field installation both systems were intensively tested at the independent and certified test lab IPH in Berlin. The paper gives an overview of both systems, reports on first experiences from field operation and depicts perspectives for the future.