Assessment of Using Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage for Current Harmonic Compensation

This paper assesses the possibility of using superconducting magnetic energy storage to improve the power quality of a grid, more specifically integrated into a current harmonic compensation device. Superconducting magnetic energy storage stores energy in the magnetic field of a lossless superconducting coil. They show a low energy density, but these devices are able to release high powers (in the MW range) within short times (ms up to a few seconds). Therefore, superconducting magnetic energy storage are foreseen for ”power” applications, as power quality improvement, rather than for bulk energy storage. In this way, they are also envisaged to compensate low-frequency harmonics generated by wind generators. Simulations show that a superconducting magnetic energy storage unit can be added in a voltage source converter based active filter to further contribute to mitigate current harmonics and decrease total harmonic distortion. Several simulation runs will be presented with the purpose of highlighting the main conclusions regarding this approach.