SCADENT - Super Conductor Applications for Dense Energy Transmission

Completed

Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution)

Applied Research and Development

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Project Contact
National Grid Electricity Transmission

Network Innovation Allowance

Ofgem

01 March 2022

01 May 2022

2 months

£148,437

Power

London

Project Contact, National Grid Electricity Transmission

Project Contact, UKPN London Power Networks plc
Project Contact, Western Power Distribution (WPD) - West Midlands

Project Contact, SP Energy Networks

Summary: This Discovery Phase project, led by National Grid ET (NGET), will develop an understanding of the barriers, opportunities, and benefits of modernising existing electricity infrastructure by replacing conventional cables with High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) cables.This will help meet the anticipated increase in demand for electricity, especially in highly populated urban areas, that will result from a shift towards electrification for heat and transport. The project will aim at investigating and developing a technology that will allow more rapid progress to be made towards decarbonisation whilst minimising costs and disruption to local consumers.Scope: Our project will investigate a number of key questions:Evaluation of the costs and benefits of using HTS cabling for urban electricity networks for consumers and stakeholders.Modelling the impact on other parts of the network infrastructure, such as potential replacement of existing high voltage substations with a medium voltage (MV) option.Assessing the benefits and technical issues of using HTS technology to provide additional capacity for 132kV applications. As a 132kV HTS system has higher capacity than a 400kV conventional option, these applications cover the majority of power delivery requirements in future cities.Opportunity to develop standardised designs and installation techniques for HTS technology to address current high installation costs. Standardisation is one of the most effective ways in helping network operators deliver power where it is needed in the most efficient way.Results: The key results for the Discovery Phase would be a detailed suite of reports, and a technology roadmap identifying key opportunities, barriers, and further work required to mainstream HTS cabling solutions.

14/10/22