2003-01-07
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LATEST NEWS
Today, for the first time in the world a superconducting cable enters service in a public electricity supply grid (28/5-2001)
Energy savings, increased grid capacity and cheaper electricity for consumers are in prospect as a result of new technology that is about to undergo full-scale testing in Copenhagen.
From 11.45 today, for the first time anywhere in the world, superconducting cables will be used to supply electricity to consumers. Some 150,000 residents in the Amager district of Co-penhagen will in future have their electricity supplied by this new technology. Until now, superconducting cables have only been tested - by laboratories and by the organisations across the world that have been competing for more than a decade to develop the technology for practical application. "We have focused on placing ourselves among the five technologically leading manufacturers of SuperCables(tm). Not specifically on being first past the post", says Dag Willén, Project Manager of NKT Research. And indeed, for a long time it looked as though first place would go to a project in Detroit. But in the end Danish technology proved quickest to overcome the legion of theoretical and practical challenges posed by supercable development.
5-7% energy saving
Discovered as far back as 1911, the phenomenon of superconductivity occurs
at extremely cold temperatures and causes almost all electrical resistance -
and thus also energy loss - to disappear. However, within the last 15 years
new materials have been discovered that only require cooling with liquid
nitrogen (minus 196° Celsius). The Danish technology group NKT has been
involved in the research race since the end of the 1980s. With widespread
use of superconducting technology in grid 'highways' energy consump-tion can
be reduced by 5-7%, which means an equivalent reduction in CO2 emissions
from electricity generation. But SuperCables(tm) can also become part of a
simplification of the electrical infrastructure. This is because they can
transmit massive currents, something which can further be utilised to reduce
the number of voltage levels (fewer transformer substations). At the end of
the day this will enable cheaper electricity for consumers.
Three 30 metre supercooled
cables Copenhagen's new supercable is only 30 metres long, but that is ample
for practical full-scale testing in the public supply grid. The cable is
installed at 'Amager Substation', a central hub in the Danish capital's
energy supply system. The supercable is capable of supplying electricity to
the whole of Amager district and will be tested under all operating
conditions. No operating experience exists elsewhere of superca-bles
installed in a public supply grid, and in particular the use of extremely
cold liquid nitro-gen to cool the cable is a totally new element in
electricity supply. The new cable has three phases, ie. it consists of three
separate superconducting cables each 30 metres long spliced into the grid
where the voltage is 30 kV. The supercable has a 2000 Amp current rating.
The future electrical infrastructure
The increased energy consumption expected in the future would demand
expansion of the power network and in many cases - especially in the
industrialised part of the world - also investments in replacement of
existing networks. As technology evolves high capacity super-cables at still
more competitive prices will gradually play a more important role in the
future infrastructure. City of Copenhagen's Environmental Mayor Bo Asmus
Kjeldgaard stresses the importance of Copenhagen pressing ahead with
development of new environment-friendly technology: "All new technology is
expensive at first. Like solar cells in the past, superconducting mate-rial
is currently very expensive. That means it will have to come down in price
to compete with conventional technology. But I am certain that if this
project produces the right results, we will see the superconducting material
used not only in cables but also, for instance, in coils and transformers."
The supercable project
The actual power transmission in SuperCables(tm) takes place through
superconducting tapes. These tapes are the key component of the cable, and
the NKT subsidiary company NST (Nordic Superconductor Technologies) is among
the world's three or four leading manufacturers of these products. The tapes
are used in a large number of electrical applications, such as engines,
generators, current leads and MRI scanners. The high tech superconducting
cable was fa-bricated by NKT's cable company NKT Cables, and will now
undergo full-scale testing by Copenhagen Energy.
Please address any questions relating to this press release to:
Bo Asmus Kjeldgaard, Environmental Mayor, City of
Copenhagen, phone + 45 26 15 58 21
Svend Kvorning, Project Manager, Copenhagen Energy, phone + 45 33 95 31 21
Asger Bundgaard-Jensen, CEO, NKT Cables Group, phone + 49 221 676 22 22
Dag Willén, Project Manager, NKT Research, phone + 45 43 48 35 77
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