DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION OF A LONG LENGTH TRANSMISSION VOLTAGE COLD DIELECTRIC SUPERCONDUCTING CABLE TO OPERATE IN THE LONG ISLAND POWER AUTHORITY GRID

The US Department of Energy is funding the world’s first cold dielectric superconducting power cable demonstration project at transmission level voltage, to be installed at the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) grid in 2007. The cable is designed to carry 574 MVA at a voltage of 138 kV. It will remain installed as a permanent part of the LIPA grid. The project team is comprised of American Superconductor, Nexans, Air Liquide and LIPA. This paper will give an overview of the technical goals of this project as well as the project status. It will describe the cable design and development process, the refrigeration system and the site installation status. An overview will be given about some system-specific operational characteristics influencing the cable system design such as fault currents.