Applications of superconducting fault current limiters in electric power transmission systems

The introduction of new generating facilities by independent power producers and increasing load demand can result in fault-current over-duty on existing transmission system protective equipment. Conventional solutions to fault current over-duty such as major substation upgrades, splitting existing substation busses or multiple circuit breaker upgrades could be very expensive and require undesirable extended outages and result in lower power system reliability. Less expensive solutions such as current limiting reactors may have unwanted side effects, such as increase in system losses, voltage regulation problems or possibly could compromise system stability. This paper discusses the benefits of superconducting Fault Current Limiters (FCLs) which can be economically competitive with expensive conventional solutions. Superconducting FCLs are invisible in normal operation and do not introduce unwanted side effects. The performance of a particular type of limiter, the Matrix Fault Current Limiter (MFCL) is presented and examples are provided on how it could relieve fault current over-duty problems. The use of this device in a particular application in the American Electric Power (AEP) 138 kV transmission grid is also discussed.