MV Power Grids Integration of a Resistive Fault Current Limiter Based on HTS-CCs

Due to the energy demand growth and distributed generation (DG) units penetration, a substantial increase of the rated short-circuit current of the electrical lines is expected. As a consequence, the electrical grid infrastructure needs to be extended or drastically renovated. In this context, resistive superconducting fault current limiters (RFCLs) based on high temperature superconducting coated conductors (HTS-CCs) represent a promising technology to limit the upgrading costs. Thanks to recent improvements on HTS-CCs performances, RFCLs are now close to commercial applications. However, as they are novel devices, their real impact on the electricity network remains an open issue. In particular, the subject of this research is to study the grid integration of the RFCL designed within the European project ECCOFLOW [1]. The device has been simulated in two applications in two different typologies of existing medium voltage grids: RFCL used as busbars coupler and RFCL used as transformer feeder. This contribution is the continuation of previous works [2], [3], where the effects of symmetrical and unsymmetrical short-circuits on inhomogeneous HTS-CCs have been extensively analyzed.