Superconductor devices have long been successfully used in a number of specific applications of which they are now a well-established component, across the world market.
In the last decades, downstream from the discovery of HTSs, a number of applications have been developed for energy transportation, ranging from cables to fault current limiters, from SMES (Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage) to rotating machines, and these applications have brought numerous benefits to electricity distribution and transmission networks in terms of resilience, reliability, efficiency and safety. However, the current TRL (Technology Readiness Level) state that the various “power” applications have reached in recent years is not the same for all of them: cable and SFCL applications are the most ready to be launched on the market, as they are currently at a decidedly high TRL (although not yet ready for the market). This is why theoretical and experimental studies on tapes and windings are still needed for achieving not only the expected performance but also a high level of reliability of the components and their economic sustainability. Therefore, in 2021, RSE continued analyzing HTS tapes and windings with activities that covered the following:
• development of methods for measuring HTS tapes and metal materials resistance based on the use of cryocoolers under cryogenic conditions;
• use of a ‘fast’ characterization method for performing direct current (DC) tests for the evaluation of critical current on tapes with different characteristics;
• analysis and processing of alternating current (AC) tests for the evaluation of losses from HTS tapes at various temperatures;
• application of numerical simulations for the analysis of the use of SFCLs made with new HTS 2G laminated GdBCO-based tapes from SuNam in the electricity grid.