Strengthening The Grid Effect Of High Temperature Superconducting Power Technologies On Reliability Power Transfer Capacity And Energy Use

This report evaluates the potential of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) power technologies to address existing problems with the U.S. electric power transmission grid, especially problems with transmission constraints. These constraints that have resulted from the slow growth of transmission systems relative to the growth in demand for power have played a major role in higher electricity prices and reduced reliability in a number of areas across the United States in recent years. Electric power components using superconducting materials have the potential to address these transmission constraints because they have much higher energy density than conventional power equipment, which for transmission means added power-carrying capacity. Superconducting power equipment requires cooling to sustain operating temperatures hundreds of degrees below ambient temperature. Magnets based on low-temperature superconducting (LTS) materials that require cooling with liquid or gaseous helium have become commercial products for accelerator and magnetic resonance imaging applications. However, the cost of cooling these LTS materials is a substantial barrier to their use in power system components. HTS power equipment, on the other hand, can be cooled with liquid nitrogen which is considerably cheaper than liquid or gaseous helium, thereby reducing or eliminating this cost barrier.

The slow growth of power transmission systems relative to the large growth in demand for power has played a major role in higher electricity prices and reduced reliability in a number of areas across the United States in recent years. This book evaluates the potential of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) power technologies to address existing problems with the U.S. electric power transmission grid, especially problems with transmission constraints. Among other findings, the authors conclude that HTS underground cables provide an attractive retrofit option for urban areas that have existing underground transmission circuits while avoiding the expense of new excavation to increase capacity. When operated at high utilization, HTS cables provide energy savings benefits as compared with conventional cables or conventional overhead lines per unit of power delivered. Whether these energy savings benefits lead to life-cycle cost savings depends on the cost of electricity and, in the case of conventional overhead lines, on siting constraints because overhead lines are typically much cheaper to install than underground cables. In addition, HTS cables can provide a parallel transmission path at a lower voltage to relieve high-voltage transmission constraints.

The re-engineering of power transmission systems is crucial to meeting the objectives of such regulators as the European Union. In addition to its market, organisational and regulatory aspects, this re-engineering will also involve technical issues dealing with the progressive integration of innovative transmission technologies in the daily operation of transmission system operators. In this context, Advanced Technologies for Future Transmission Grids provides an overview of the most promising technologies, likely to be of help to planners of transmission grids in responding to the challenges of the future: security of supply; integration of renewable generation; and creation of integrated energy markets (using the European case as an example). These issues have increased importance because of administrative complication and the fragmentation of public opinion expressed on the build up of new infrastructure. For each technology discussed, the focus is on the technical-economic perspective rather than on purely technological points of view. A transmission-system-operator-targeted Technology Roadmap is presented for the integration of promising innovative power transmission technologies within power systems of the mid-long term. Although the primary focus of this text is in the sphere of the European energy market, the lessons learned can be generalized to the energy markets of other regions.

The imperative for responsible innovation in the nanotechnology domain has inspired and provoked assorted views on its trajectory, potential implications as well as appropriate pathways for its development across a spectrum of stakeholders. These debates assume greater significance in the context of developing nations since harnessing the inherent potential of this transformational technology presumes the establishment of simultaneous capabilities to cutting-edge technological innovation as well as risk governance, regulation and public engagement in an environment challenged by limited resources, weak innovation systems and inadequate abilities for risk management.This book seeks to examine developments, opportunities, concerns and challenges in nanotechnology from a developing country perspective raising complex questions and issues in the course of the responsible development of nanotechnology. It covers a range of issues such as potential R & D prospects, S&T capacities and innovation systems, issues of environment, health and safety, risk and regulatory preparedness, and prospective socio-economic and ethical repercussions, with a focus on Indian developments. Based on half a decade of interdisciplinary research and informed by multi-stakeholder insights on the aforementioned aspects, it proposes options for effective and inclusive governance for nanotechnology in India.

Includes publications previously listed in the supplements to the Index of selected publications of the Rand Corporation (Oct. 1962-Feb. 1963).

According to its tradition, the EUCAS Conference focused on the role of superconductivity in bridging various aspects of research with a variety of concrete advanced applications. The wide interactions among scientists operating worldwide in the field of superconductivity and the sharing of their knowledge and experience represented the main result of the event. The EUCAS Conference has been an ideal forum for presentation and discussion of recent developments in the field of applied superconductivity in the area of power and electronic applications. Great emphasis has been given to materials research directly connected to such applications. For this conference, 515 plenary, invited, and contributed papers were accepted, covering different areas of applications that strongly benefit from the use of superconductivity, such as energy transportation, large magnet systems, biomedical instrumentation, digital electronics, wireless communications, and quantum computing. Forty-two plenary and invited papers are included in Applied Superconductivity 2003, along with a CD-ROM that contains PDF files of all the contributed papers linked from contents lists (and, for completeness, plenary and invited papers). These proceedings are addressed to international physicists, electrotechnical and electronic engineers, material scientists, and chemists interested in the most recent and exciting advances in the field of applied superconductivity.