Feasibility study of high temperature superconducting cables for distribution power grids in metropolises

摘要

High temperature superconducting (HTS) cables have numerous advantages compared with conventional power cables, such as high power density and low power losses, therefore they have great potential to enhance the transmission capacity and improve the quality of power grids. In this work, we studied various cases to evaluate the feasibility of replacing conventional cables with HTS cables in metropolitan distribution networks. These cases represent three principal strategies. The first, HTS cables are applied at the same or lower voltage levels with the same transmission capacity, named 'equal capacity replacement'. The second, considering increasing power demands we demonstrate how HTS cables can benefit power grids by providing expanded capacity (expanded capacity replacement). For the third, we consider the case of unequal routes from the perspective of saving land resources (unequal routing replacement). In this paper, we introduce the methods and results of this study and give some preliminary conclusive remarks.