HIGH-LOAD CONNECTIONS

One of the unique characteristics of superconducting cables is the ability to transport very high currents with nearly zero energy losses. This ability to transport high current with low losses makes a superconducting cable ideal for a high-current connection for bulk power transport. A conventional cable system – which in such cases can consist of several cable systems in parallel – has high losses, and substantial loss saving and reduction of a number of parallel systems can be obtained by use of superconducting cables. Studies show that typical high-current connections with high load factor can result in a loss reduction of 40% compared to a conventional cable system. A simplified example of loss comparison during a year is shown in the table below.

In addition to energy loss saving bulk superconducting power transmission offers the following beneficial possibilities:

• Another optimal ratio between current and voltage than conventional cables (low voltage high current connections)

• Less or no need for reactive power compensation

• Less or no magnetic interaction with the surroundings

• No thermal interaction with the surroundings

Dependent on the cable design an AC cable can be manufactured for a nominal current up to 8,000 Amperes. This is possible because superconducting cables are not limited by thermal properties of the dielectric like conventional cables due to the internal cooling.

Further information on losses in superconducting cables can be found on this site.

Load (%)	Duration (hours)	Losses (MWh/km/year)
		Conventional cable	HTS cable
100%	200 h	29	11
90%	1,500 h	177	66
60%	3,00 h	162	84
20%	4,036 h	35	79
	1 year	403	240
			40% saving

Example of load profile resulting in energy saving of 40%.   

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