Fall 2002 Meeting Description

Time: 8:00 - 9:00 p.m.	IEEE September Meeting Presentation Description
Place: Volstorff Ballroom, SDSU Student Union, SDSU Campus, Brookings, SD	John Howe American Superconductor "Advances in Superconductivity: New Materials and Technologies for the 21st Century Power Grid"
	For more than a decade, the electric utility industry has been undergoing a change of historic proportions as policymakers seek to restructure and introduce competition into an enterprise long organized as a regulated monopoly. To date, these reforms have achieved some mixed success in the generating sector. Yet, in recent years, this effort to revolutionize the structure of the industry has been severely hampered by the difficulty of expanding the capacity of the power grid -- the network of "wires and switches" that connects all producers and users. Today, it is clear that the key policy challenge facing the industry is the need to modernize and attract capital to the overtaxed and antiquated power delivery network. Because of the inherent limitations of the existing grid and growing public opposition to the siting of conventional overhead high-voltage lines, new approaches are required. One of the most promising approaches to renew this vital public asset is through the use of new technologies based on advanced materials that form the basis of a new generation of "wires and switches." While today's power system largely comprises elements made of copper, aluminum and iron, tomorrow's system could see much broader use of such materials as advanced composites, semiconductor-based power electronics, and so-called "high-temperature superconductors" made from ceramic compounds discovered in the 1980s. Perhaps least familiar to the power industry, superconductors offer the potential for dramatic improvements in system performance and simplified approaches to overall power system design. This presentation will provide an overview of advances in the past decade in the field of high-temperature superconductivity. Beginning with a brief technical introduction and historical overview, it will summarize the status of the industrial development of the field. The presentation will focus on the characteristics, benefits and key challenges associated with the products that are emerging or have already been commercialized: high-capacity cables, ultracompact motors, high-efficiency generators, and superconducting storage systems to dampen out voltage fluctuations and increase wide-area reliability. The presentation will include a report on several current demonstrations and projects underway. Many applications of HTS will particularly benefit dense urban areas. However, several of these technologies offer the potential to improve the performance of rural power systems, where voltage drop and grid integration of new resources (e.g., windpower) pose special difficulties. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of applications that may offer particular advantages to users in South Dakota.

8:00 - 9:00 p.m.

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