Study on 1 GW class hybrid energy transfer line of hydrogen and electricity

Abstract

Applicability of 1 GW class hybrid energy transfer line of hydrogen and electricity is investigated. Target distance of hybrid energy transfer line is 1000 km. Hydrogen refrigeration station is placed on every 10 km of the unit section. The rated current and withstand voltage of the dc power line are 10 kA and 100 kV, respectively. Capacity of the liquid hydrogen transportation is 100 tons per day. Transfer line consists of the superconducting (SC) cable, space for liquid hydrogen, electrical insulation layer, vacuum space for thermal insulation, and cryogenic envelopes. High Jc performance in a liquid hydrogen temperature requires for the SC cable. The MgB2 wire is one of the potential candidates for this system as well as BSCCO or YBCO tapes. To keep the liquid state of hydrogen anywhere in the unit section, the temperature and pressure of the inlet point were selected to 17 K and 0.4 MPa, respectively. When the heat leak into the liquid hydrogen was 1.0 W/m (expected value), the temperature at the outlet became 18.1 K. Total power consumption of the 10 kW class refrigerator is estimated to 660 kW. The total power consumption for the hybrid energy transfer line of 1000 km length becomes 132 MW. This value is equivalent to 13.2 % to the transport capacity of 1GW. © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd.