Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T02:07:48.823Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Overview of U.S. Department of Energy Superconductivity Program for Electric Power

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2011

Robert A. Hawsey
Robert A. Hawsey*
Affiliation:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Post Office Box 2008 Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6195, U.S.A.
Get access

Abstract

A top priority of the U.S. government is to improve the energy delivery infrastructure. According to the report issued May 2001 by the National Energy Policy Development (NEPD) Group, “For the electricity we need, we must be ambitious. Transmission grids stand in need of repair, upgrading, and expansion…if we put these connections in place, we'll go a long way to avoiding future blackouts.” Superconductivity is such an important aspect of our nation's energy future that we should “…expand the Department's research and development on transmission reliability and superconductivity.” Prototype superconducting power cables that will help upgrade our power grid when commercialized later this decade are being demonstrated today in Carrollton, Georgia and Detroit, Michigan. Much research remains, however, if the superconducting wires are to have the electrical performance and low-cost features necessary for U.S. companies to fully commercialize new transmission cables that will help eliminate the bottlenecks in urban areas. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) leads the U.S. national effort to develop high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wires and to demonstrate prototype electric power applications using the best wires available today. The industry-led Second Generation Wire Initiative is exploiting breakthroughs at the national laboratories that promise unprecedented current carrying capacity in HTS wires at lower cost than first-generation “BSCCO” wires. Some of the recent progress in the U.S. development of HTS “coated conductors” and in fielding prototype applications is presented

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 689: Symposium E – Materials for High-Temperature Superconductor Technologies , 2001 , E6.1
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Daley, J. G., “Superconducting Power: Meeting the Challenges,” extended abstract presented at the 5th International Workshop on Superconductivity, cosponsored by ISTEC and MRS, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, June 2001, paper #SL-2.Google Scholar
2. Iijima, Y., et al., “In-Plane Aligned Yba2Cu3O7-x Thin Films Deposited on Polycrystalline Metallic Substrates,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 60:769–771 (1992).Google Scholar
3. Wu, X. D., et al., “Properties of Yba2Cu3O7-δ Thick Films on Flexible Buffered Metallic Substrates,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 67: 2397–2399 (1995).Google Scholar
4. Groves, J. R., et al., “Texture Development in IBAD MgO Films as Function of Deposition Thickness and Rate,” IEEE Trans. on Appl. Superconductivity, 11 (2001): 2822–2825.Google Scholar
5. Balachandran, U., et. al., “Fabrication by Inclined Substrate Deposition of Biaxially Textured Buffer Layer for Coated Conductors,” presented as paper E9.1 at 2001 Fall MRS Meeting, 29 November 2001, Boston, MA, U.S.A. Google Scholar
6. Norton, D. P., et al., “Epitaxial Yba2Cu3O7 on Biaxially Textured Nickel (001): An Approach to Superconducting Tapes with High Critical Current Density,” Science 274: 755–757(1996).Google Scholar
7. Goyal, A., et al., “High Critical Current Density Superconducting Tapes by Epitaxial Deposition of Yba2Cu3Ox Thick Films on Biaxially Textured Metals,” Appl. Phys. Lett 69: 1795–1797 (1996).Google Scholar
8. Lee, D. F., “Long-Length Conversion of Barium-Fluoride Precursor Films on RABiTS,” extended abstract presented at the 5th International Workshop on Superconductivity, co-sponsored by ISTEC and MRS, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, June 2001, paper #S3–4.Google Scholar
9. Groves, J. R. “Development of IBAD MgO Process for HTS Coated Conductors,” extended abstract presented at the 5th International Workshop on Superconductivity, co-sponsored by ISTEC and MRS, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, June 2001, paper #S2–2.Google Scholar
10. Fact sheets about all of the U. S. Department of Energy SPI projects may be downloaded from the world wide web at: http://www.eren.doe.gov/superconductivity/partnership_sheets.html At the date this paper was written this URL was deemed to be useful reference material to this paper. Neither the author nor the Materials Research Society warrants or assumes liability for the content or availability of this URL.Google Scholar
11. U.S. DOE Proceedings of the Annual Peer Review Meeting for the Superconductivity Program, Washington, D.C., U.S.A., August 1–3, 2001 available from Energetics, Inc., 7164 Gateway Drive, Columbia, MD, 21046 USA.Google Scholar