Development and Demonstration of a 1 MJ High-Tc SMES

A superconducting magnetic energy storage system (SMES), with stored energy of 1 MJ and compensation power of 0.5 MVA, has been developed successfully, and now is operating at the world's first superconducting power substation at Baiyin National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Gansu Province, China. The SMES employs a high Tc superconducting magnet, which consists of 44 pancakes, operates at 4.2 K in liquid helium, and is cooled down by 4 G-M cryo-coolers. The SMES connects to a 10.5 kV power grid by the use of a power conversion system. Since 16 February, 2011, the SMES has been operating reliably, and providing good-quality power for three companies.