Superconducting cable.

[gar]

080514-0634 EST

An unrelated Google search presented this site

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/732

One paragraph is

"Detroit Edison's 100 MV A cable is 120 m long and comprises three single-phase HTS cables rated at 24 kV. It replaces nine copper cables at a substation in Detroit and supplies sufficient power for 30 000 residential customers. And, impressively, the total HTS conductor weighs 70 times less than the copper cables it replaces."

HTS refers to High Temperature Superconductor.

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[don_resqcapt19]

HTS refers to High Temperature Superconductor.

Sort of a misnomer....the cable operates at -321?F...I guess that is high compared to absolute zero which is ~ -459?F.

 

[steve66]

I bet its 70 times heavier than a standard copper cable by the time you take all the cooling equipment into account.

 

[gar]

080514-2027 EST

Here is another document on HTS. I doubt their timetable is realistic, but there is potential for considerable power saving.

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/htsc/documents/pdf/Products&Benefits2002Final.pdf

There are a lot of interesting statistics in the report.

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[CAPS]

Superconducting wire has many uses. Motors have been built with significant size and weight savings realized.

http://www.caps.fsu.edu/newsdetails.asp?ID=54

The HTS wire is also used as a Fault Current Limiter. It acts as a variable resistor when it "quenches" leaves it superconducting state adding resistance to the circuit when the wires critical current is reached.