Abstract
A High Tc Superconducting (HTS) Cable, which has a conductor with superconducting materials discovered in 1986, has been developed since early 1990s. After 10 and several years, the HTS cable has reached to the stage of evaluation at the real grid. Improvement of the performance and progress on the productivity of HTS wires are enhancing opportunities for commercialization of the HTS cable as well as other HTS applications. Especially in the USA, several demonstration projects of the HTS cable are undergoing in order to strengthen the fragile electric power network. In the Albany project, which is one of them, the 3-in-One type HTS cable was installed in 2006 and the world first operation has been conducted with an actual configuration in the long underground duct.
In Japan, a new HTS cable project supported by NEDO has just started in order to study operation, maintenance method and related technologies for operating in the actual grid.
This paper describes the position of HTS cable in accord with the history of large capacity power cables, summarizes its prospects and technical problems and introduces various projects in the world.
