Fixing grid gets cheaper via super cable

The National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) suggests high-temperature superconductor (HTS) wire can carry three to five-times more power than copper wire.
     It can be made more durable than before and is suitable for use on the grid. Second-generation HTS wire is likely to cost less than today’s more delicate HTS, the institute added.
     Compact, underground superconductor cables can be used to expand capacity and direct power flows at strategic points on the grid, NTIS added.
     It can be used in city centers where there is enormous demand and little space under the streets to add wire but the institute forecasts it’s going to take several years to get the wire to market.
     The NIST tests were on a wire using superconductor ceramic coatings on metallic substrates — made by American Superconductor and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
     NIST discovered that the new wires could stretch almost twice as much as earlier samples “without any cracking of the superconductor coating” and almost without any loss in the ability to carry electricity.
The testing team found that when strain-induced cuts in transmission occurred, the cuts were completely reversible by removing the strain.
     “The strain tolerance of this future HTS wire was found to be high enough for even the most demanding electric utility applications,” NTIS concluded.
     NIST’s findings were published in the Nov 17 issue of Applied Physics Letter.