June 21, 2011

Furukawa Electric has developed a 275kV superconducting power cable of the highest voltage class in the world. Utilizing the Yttrium-based superconducting wires, which boast excellent cost performance, the superconducting power cable has doubled the voltage performance and tripled the power performance of conventional cables through improving the technologies for conversion to cable. It has also halved the AC loss of conventional cables, enabling massive amounts of electricity to be carried with low loss.

These results were achieved through the “Technology development project of the Yttrium-based superconducting power device” commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

As a superconducting power cable is capable of carrying massive amounts of electricity with low loss, it is expected to bring about a large-capacity yet compact cable that cannot be achieved using conventional technology, as well as making a significant contribution to energy savings and the reduction of CO2 emissions. Particularly because the larger the transmission capacity, the greater the energy-saving effect, it is currently under development to become a backbone transmission line for carrying electricity from power plants to the point of consumption.

The most common backbone transmission line is 275kV in Japan, while it is 220kV overseas. However, the voltage class of the superconducting power cables that had been developed so far was 66kV in Japan and a maximum of 138kV overseas, so it was imperative to develop a superconducting power cable that could withstand high voltages.