Status of HTS Cable Link Project for St. Petersburg Grid

Utilization of DC and AC HTS cable lines in electrical grid enables enhancement of the transmission capacity, reduced power losses, lowering of allotment areas, improvement of environmental conditions and improvement of fire and explosion safety of these power transmission lines. An HTS DC cable lines (CL) bring the new additional advantages, including the opportunity to introduce into the power system a new electric link without increasing fault current level. It allows to connect input stations in the city on medium voltage sites and, as a result, improves the reliability of the energy supply to customers. Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System (FGC UES) started with the development and construction of a HTS DC cable link, which included the cable, cryogenics, AC/DC/AC converters, terminations and cable coupling joints. The link will connect two substations on downtown area. The purpose of this project is to operate at 50 MW HTS cable in the live network of St. Petersburg to demonstrate its effectiveness and improve the reliability of the grid. Nowadays are developed all the elements of the line and all technologies required for cable manufacturing. After successful tests of two 30-m HTS cable samples together with current leads and coupling boxes, full scale production of all devises for HTS DC cable line was began. This paper describes the current status of the production and tests of the HTS cable line elements.