WiredInUSA June 2016

INDEX

Pilot plant

Cable forum

A whollyowned subsidiary of BASF New Business GmbH, Deutsche Nanoschicht GmbH, has opened a pilot plant for the manufacture of high temperature superconductors. The facility, located in Rheinbach,Germany isbasedonan in-house developedchemicalmanufacturingprocess and is an important step to market launch of the superconductors. BASF New Business provides customers with samples of the wire to produce prototypes for high-efficiency developments inpower grids, suchas current limiters and cables for direct and alternating current. Superconducting cables can transmit current withnegligible loss, andcan transportamuch greater amount of energy in relation to the conductor cross-section. High temperature superconductors conduct current at the temperature of liquid nitrogen (–196ºC) without resistance. This temperature can be cost-effectively achieved and maintained by commercial refrigerating machines. The ten to one hundred times higher current-carrying capacity, compared to copper, allows very compact new cable applications and more lightweight systems for generators and motors. Current limiters compensate current peaks in supply grids and can prevent power failures caused by short circuits.

nkt cables’ head of power cable monitoring, Udo Bendig, will speak at June’s advanced submarine power cable and interconnection forum in Berlin. The three-day forum will give an overview of current HVDC projects and, in particular, will showcase analytical insights into how industry leaders optimize performance, minimize environmental impacts while optimizing cable protection, meet increasing demands, explore new possibilities and market trends, and analyse risks. Udo Bendig’s lecture, “Fiber optic power cable monitoring, protection and failure localization”, will focus on distributed monitoring solutions, opportunities to address threats and faults of power cables, TCO reduction opportunities, and the lessons to be learned frompast experience. The 5 th annual advanced submarine power cable and interconnection forum will take place between 14 th and 16 th June.

wiredInUSA - June 2016

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