Requirements for a superconducting fault current limiter in the utility bus-tie location

A study is presented that develops the application specifications for a superconducting fault current limiter (FCL) for use in distribution substations. The specifications were developed using published distribution protection practices, distribution system analysis, and efficient FCL system design. FCL design parameters such as reliability, instant recovery and hold time are considered in determining the most suitable FCL substation location. The study concluded that an FCL based on a passive resistive limiter design, using high temperature superconducting wire and including an integrated breaker, could be a practical fault current solution when installed at the bus-tie location. The appropriate specifications for the bus-tie application were determined to be 15 kV class, 600 A steady state, 1200 A emergency and fault limited to 1800 A.