The Future Smart Grid Superconducting Cable

Published:2011/6/30 1:52:00 Author:Phyllis From:SeekIC

The most urgent challenge we face today about power generation is the efficient tapping of renewable energy sources that are located some distance from the urban areas that need the power-for instance, electricity generated in the West China are transmitted to the East part of China, or wind turbine power generated on the plains in Inner Mongolia and delivered to Beijing.

The present "dumb" power grid mainly depends on aboveground copper cables to transmit power long distances to the end user. The biggest problem with copper is that the power leakage rate is high. Due to the internal electrical resistance of copper wire, the average power leakage is 7 percent to 10 percent, which means a lot of greenhouse gas being pumped into the atmosphere.

Superconducting cables can conduct electricity with no electrical loss and transmit up to 10 times more power than copper cables in the same footprint. while high-temperature superconductor (HTS) cable seems very likely to the next-generation transmission line, it still faces many difficulties, most notably is its high cost and its need to be cryogenically cooled.

The United States is the first country to install superconductor. National Grid and American Electric Power installed distribution-voltage HTS power cable at plants in Albany, N.Y., and in Columbus, Ohio, respectively in 2006. Two years later, the Long Island Power Authority installed HTS transmission cable at its Holbrook plant. The 2000-foot-long LIPA cable system is cryogenically cooled by using a liquid-nitrogen refrigeration system from Air Liquid.

In April, for instance, AMSC announced that its HTS cable was being installed at an electrical substation in Baiyin, Gangsu province, China. The first AMSC HTS transmission cable will be installed in the Beijing area this summer.

Just like China, South Korea has a number of demonstration projects in the works that use AMSC superconducting cable. Last October, AMSC announced the sale of 3 million meters-about 50 miles-of superconducting wire to South Korea’s LS Cable, which will manufacture HTS cable and install it in South Korea’s high-profile smart grid project on Jeju Island. AMSC also provides HTS cable to replace copper power supply cable in Seoul; the HTS cable will increase available power sixfold without the need to install any new circuits. The related integrated circuit is 013 RLC.

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