SuperPower Inc. recently announced that it will partner with Waukesha Electric Systems (Waukesha, Wisconsin) to build a superconducting fault current limiting (SCFL) transformer for the US Department of Energy’s Smart Grid demonstration project. The 28 megavolt-ampere three-phase medium-power transformer, which has been under development by Waukesha Electric Systems for some time, will be installed at the Southern California Edison utility substation in late 2012.
Since the device will incorporate SuperPower’s second generation high temperature superconducting (HTS) wire, it will dramatically reduce the amount of energy lost in transmission, a problem that plagues conventional copper wire. It will also be considerably smaller, at only half the size and weight of a conventional transformer. Another advantage of the SCFL transformer is that it does not need toxic and flammable oil for cooling, and is instead cooled by liquid nitrogen.
Other participants in the project include the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The demonstration project will be funded by the Department of Energy through a $21.5 million award. After it’s installed, the SCFL transformer will undergo a 2-year testing period to validate Smart Grid business models, system performance, energy savings and improvements in power quality and reliability.
