Potential impact of high temperature superconducting cables on grid reliability and available transfer capacity: power flow simulation results

This paper describes analyses of the potential impact on an electric utility system of high temperature superconducting (HTS) cables. Requirements for energy savings with HTS cables were investigated via parametric analysis of the energy use of an HTS cable, a conventional overhead conductor, and a conventional underground cable operating at similar voltage. Power flow simulations were performed for a portion of the electric utility grid in downtown Chicago. N-1 contingency analysis compared the base case for Summer 2000 peak load with one in which 20 HTS cable replacements are made. The HTS replacement case had 37 violations as compared to 107 in the base case, with maximum overload reduced from 164% to 109%. The analysis also showed that 41% more power was transferred into downtown Chicago in the HTS replacement case with approximately the same number of violations.