Home > Technology
Agreements > High-Temperature Superconductivity (HTS) on the Electric Power Sector
The IEA provides support for international collaboration on energy technology R&D, deployment and information dissemination. These groups function within a framework created by the IEA - the International Framework for International Energy Technology Collaboration. The views, findings and publications of these international groups (formally called Implementing Agreements) do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the IEA Secretariat or of all its individual member countries. OECD Member countries, autonomous OECD non-member countries, intergovernmental organisations, non-governmental organisations and private sector entities may participate. For more information, see our Technology Agreements page.
|High-Temperature Superconductivity (HTS) on the Electric Power Sector|
High temperature superconductors are ceramic materials which carry very large electric currents in very small volumes, something that conventional materials cannot do because of the energy dissipated in them.As a result they have the potential to be cost-effective in commercial applications in the electric power sector. The use of superconductivity can result in substantial environmental improvements by energy saving, replacement of oil in cables and transformers by inert liquid/gas nitrogen, and by enabling more economic underground power transmission, thereby reducing concerns about electro-magnetic radiation, visual pollution and noise. The objectives of the Implementing Agreement on High Temperature Superconductivity are to better enable each Member to keep abreast of progress being made toward applications in the power sector, to catalyse concerted consideration of issues that have not yet been subject to definitive attention by individual participants, and to provide a network and venue that may lay the basis for future international co-operation on joint projects. The work programme is focused on the development of information and its exchange among the Agreement's members. Activities include preparation of essays on outstanding issues; fostering debate and appropriate action by holding workshops and seminars; evaluating and synthesising the results of on-going work; establishing a contacts register of names, addresses of institutions and published documentation; and promoting international co-operation and planning that may lay the basis for future joint projects, including hardware projects. The shared information has aided the national programmes of the participants in evaluating the future importance of ceramic superconductors to electric utilities and of specific devices that are under development.
|Signatories : Canada | Canada | Finland | Germany | Germany | Israel | Italy | Japan | Korea, Republic of | Netherlands | Norway | Sweden | Switzerland | United Kingdom | United States | Bruker HTS GmbH | Columbus Superconductors of Gruppo Malacalza ||
|For more information: http://www.superconductivityIEA.org|
Current Projects (Annexes)
01. Impacts of High-Temperature Superconductivity in the Electric Power Sector