Nexans designed, manufactured and installed the cable using AMSC’s proprietary Amperium high temperature (HTS) superconducting wire, which can operate at 12 kV. The cable carries an AC current of 3000 A and can carry up to 62 MVA of power, far exceeding what is possible with conventional resistive conductors such as copper and aluminum.
The cable’s high current capacity is ideally suited for densely populated and congested urban areas thanks to its compact footprint. The REG system also has a low environmental impact as there is no local heating or magnetic fields.
Nexans has successfully deployed cable designs in the past, such as cabling used in the AmpaCity project in Essen, Germany, a 1km HTS cable to reinforce the medium voltage power network serving the city.
The HTS cable and the connection for the REG system were manufactured at Nexans’ specialized superconductor facility in Hanover, Germany. The two terminations were designed at Nexans’ Calais plant. AMSC is managing the project and has provided the liquid nitrogen refrigeration system, in addition to the Amperium HTS wire.