Cooling Technologies for SMES

Abstract

As energy storage equipment for electric power systems, superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems have good characteristics such as high efficiency, quick response and no deterioration under repeated operations. Since 1991, a national project by the Agency for National Resources and Energy Japan has been carried out to develop an SMES system for power control in a power system. Moreover, SMES has been developed as a bridge for instantaneous voltage dips since 2003. In this issue, cooling systems and cryocoolers for SMES are introduced.