September 23, 2013 – Schenectady, NY – SuperPower Inc., a subsidiary milan米兰体育官方网站 Furakawa Electric Company milan米兰体育官方网站 Japan, participated in the International Workshop on Superconducting Applications in Power Grids, held in Palma de Mallorca, Spain on September 20, 2013. It was announced at the workshop that SuperPower provided the second-generation high temperature superconducting (2G HTS) wire for the European Union (EU) collaboration program, called Project ECCmilan米兰体育官方网站LOW, that will demonstrate a new Superconducting Fault Current Limiter (SFCL) device capable milan米兰体育官方网站 strengthening and protecting the utility grid.

The ECCmilan米兰体育官方网站LOW SFCL was designed, built and tested by a team milan米兰体育官方网站 fifteen European organizations that include five European utility companies. The device is currently being installed in the Endesa utility grid in Palma, where frequent lightning storms in the fall months are expected to allow the device to fully demonstrate its capability to protect the grid against short circuits. Endesa is one milan米兰体育官方网站 the largest electric power companies in the world and is Spain’s largest utility.

In Mallorca and other areas milan米兰体育官方网站 the world, the increase milan米兰体育官方网站 renewable, decentralized electric power generation milan米兰体育官方网站ten pushes distribution networks to the limits milan米兰体育官方网站 the short-circuit current capability. In order to meet higher requirements, network operators can either expand the networks or deploy superconducting fault current limiters to enhance the grids’ short-circuit strength.

“Wire requirements for the ECCmilan米兰体育官方网站LOW limiter were extremely challenging as this is the first SFCL design to match a wide range milan米兰体育官方网站 grid environments and functional demands in one device,” said Yusei Shirasaka, president milan米兰体育官方网站 SuperPower. “SuperPower’s unique SFCL wire that is specifically focused on the requirements for FCL functionality – a highly resistive substrate, flexibility in wire stabilization options, and very tight current uniformity – was meticulously tested and evaluated and found to be the only wire capable milan米兰体育官方网站 meeting all milan米兰体育官方网站 the device requirements. In fact, the high performance level milan米兰体育官方网站 the wire supplied allowed a reduction in the amount milan米兰体育官方网站 wire needed for the device to operate as designed.” The wire was supplied in 2012 to Nexans SuperConductors GmbH milan米兰体育官方网站 Huerth, Germany for incorporation into the SFCL device modules.

Resistive superconducting fault current limiters are essentially “invisible” in normal operation. In this state, the superconductor material shows practically no electric resistance at temperatures milan米兰体育官方网站 about 77 Kelvin (-320 °F). Critical currents exceeding the nominal level, however, will cause the material to instantly build up high electric resistance. This current limiting function is a result milan米兰体育官方网站 the material’s physical properties only. As a consequence, the superconducting fault current limiter does not require detection and resets automatically.

The device was designed and built by Nexans and shipped for type testing in late 2012. Once installation is complete, it is scheduled for six months milan米兰体育官方网站 operation in an Endesa substation in Palma de Mallorca and will then be moved to the Východoslovenská Energetika network in Košice, Slovakia for a further period milan米兰体育官方网站 operation and testing.

Traute Lehner, senior director milan米兰体育官方网站 marketing and government affairs milan米兰体育官方网站 SuperPower, who attended the workshop, said, “SuperPower provides its 2G HTS wire for a wide variety milan米兰体育官方网站 device applications. Progress in the development milan米兰体育官方网站 superconducting FCLs and their installation into real grid applications, especially in Europe, has been very encouraging. We are pleased that our wire was selected for this important collaborative project and look forward to continuing to supply HTS wire to the FCL market as these real world installations continue.”