Abstract
There are high expectations for coated conductors in electric power applications such as SMES, power cables and transformers owing to their ability to contribute to stabilizing and increasing the capacity of the electric power supply grid, as well as reduce CO2 emissions based on their high critical-current characteristics. R&D has been performed on wires and power devices as part of many national projects all over the world. The Materials & Power Applications of Coated Conductors (M-PACC) project is a national project in Japan supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Indstry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to develop both coated conductors that meet the market requirements and fundamental technologies for power applications using coated conductors. Three years have passed since this five-year national project started in fiscal 2008. In this article, R&D results are reviewed and compared with the interim/final targets of the project, and the future prospects are discussed.
