Practical Application Issues of Superconducting Fault Current Limiters for Electric Power Systems

The discovery of high-temperature superconductors were the great opportunity for developing fault current limiters using quenching phenomena. Superconducting fault current limiters is highly effective solutions to reduce and control excessive fault current which is inevitable to electric power systems. So, many companies and national research institutes were trying to develop this novel electric equipment under the assistance of national government. Due to their efforts, various types of superconducting fault current limiters were designed and tested. But, unfortunately, the practical applications and commercialization of superconducting fault current limiters are pending due to many unsolved problems. This paper discusses the current issues and commercialization problems of superconducting fault current limiters considering various aspects such as coordination with conventional relay, high voltage and high current issues, performance, cost, size, and life and maintenance issues. Then, emerging solutions for fault current limiters using hybrid method were introduced and analyzed. Finally, the viable method and our newly developed hybrid superconducting fault current limiters in order to solve the practical problems of conventional superconducting fault current limiters was briefly introduced.