Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) Systems for GRIDS

Tweet ARPA-E Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) for Grid-scale rampable intermittent dispatchable storage (21 pages) The ARPA-E project runs until 2013. Superpower inc is trying to prove that they can get the component performance needed for scaling superconducting magnetic energy storage to scale to the gigawatt level.

Being able to discharge and store power every second is needed because wind turbine power varies by the second.

Technology Advances (Revised, ARPA-E)
* Ultra-high field (25 Tesla) prototype magnet (20 kW, 3.2 MJ)
* 2G HTS wire with critical current over 600 A
* Modular, scalable converter concept for direct connection to medium voltage grid with high round trip efficiency (over 85%)

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