In recent years significant progress has been made in the development of high temperature superconducting (HTS) power devices, in particular cables and fault current limiters. Several field tests of large scale prototypes for both applications have been successfully accomplished and the technologies are getting closer to commercialization. In this paper the German AmpaCity project will be introduced and its objectives will be described. Furthermore, the conceptual design of the HTS cable system and the major developments which have been achieved so far, as well as the current status of the project will be reported.

In this paper the German AmpaCity project, which started in September 2011, will be introduced and the conceptual design of the main components will be described. The objective of the project is developing, manufacturing and installing a 10 kV, 40 MVA high temperature superconducting (HTS) system consisting of a fault current limiter and of a 1 km cable in the city of Essen. AmpaCity serves as a lighthouse project, since it is the first time that a one kilometer HTS cable system will be installed together with an HTS fault current limiter in a real grid application within a city center area. In addition it will be the longest installed HTS cable system worldwide. Within the project the development phase was finished in March 2013 with successfully completing the type test of the cable system. Subsequently, manufacturing of the different components for the installation has started and the system is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2013.Index Terms--AmpaCity project, fault current limiter, high temperature superconductivity, power cable, urban area power supply.

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Superconducting fault current limiters (SCFCLs) are new and attractive devices to limit short-circuit currents in power systems. In recent years, the technical feasibility of SCFCLs in medium voltage applications was successfully demonstrated in several field tests.In high voltage power systems the application of SCFCLs is very attractive too, because at this voltage level conventional devices to limit short-circuit currents are hardly applicable and system studies showed considerable economical benefits. Therefore, a German project started recently to develop a first 110 kV, 1.8 kA prototype of a resistive SCFCL. A magnetic triggered resistive concept using MCP-BSCCO 2212 bulk material will be used for the demonstrator.This paper reports about the conceptual design of this SCFCL and the project status. Focus is given on the main data of the 110 kV prototype, the SCFCL modules, the general design of the whole system and the most important high voltage design aspects. The calculations and estimations show that the conceptual design presented in this paper seems feasible and that a major technical challenge is to ensure a reliable electrical insulation system.