Factory and Field Tests of a 220 kV/300 MVA Statured Iron-Core Superconducting Fault Current Limiter

A 220 kV/300 MVA saturated iron-core superconducting fault current limiter (SI-SFCL) has been successfully manufactured and installed at Shigezhuang substation in Tianjin, China. Because it is the first time SI-SFCL has been used at such a high voltage level, extensive testing was carried out to assess the safety and functional performance of the device in the HV power grid. Two categories of tests were conducted at the factory before the SFCL was shipped to the installation site. One was to examine whether the device met the relevant industrial standards, such as lightning impulse, high voltage withstanding, partial discharging, and temperature rising, etc. The other was to determine the functional performance and key operational parameters, such as measuring steady impedance, magnetizing and demagnetizing the superconducting coil, and so on. Following the completion of the installation at the substation, field tests were performed to re-confirm performance after the stages of disassembly, shipment, and reassembly on site. This paper introduces the major results of these tests.