Cable Conductor Design for the High-Power MgB2 DC Superconducting Cable Project of BEST PATHS

BEST PATHS (acronym for “BEyond State-of-the-art Technologies for rePowering ac corridors and multi-Terminal HVDC Systems”) is a collaborative project of 40 leading European organizations from science and industry, supported by the 7th Research Framework Programme of the European Commission. The project investigates the feasibility of technological innovations that could advance high-capacity transmission links. These innovations include a demonstrator project dedicated to superconducting electric lines, which aims to validate the novel MgB2 technology for GW-level HVDC power transmission. The four-year project will thus demonstrate the operation of a full-scale 320 kV MgB2 monopole cable system that can transfer up to 3.2 GW. This paper focuses on the design and development activities for the 10 kA cable conductor, which were carried out in the first two years of the project.