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The bank of supercapacitors to maintain current stability during high current short circuit testing.
Image : SuperGrid Institute
The Energy Transition Institute (ITE) SuperGrid Institute inaugurated its new high-voltage short-circuit generator. According to the institute, this is a unique installation in Europe. Developed to support manufacturers in the development of future direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) high voltage equipment, the test platform installed in Lyon-Villeurbanne (69) is essential for studying the massive integration of energies renewables in our electricity grids.
The platform therefore offers a very wide range of tests. The short-circuit generator is a current source whose purpose is to supply exceptionally high currents, of the order of one hundred kilo amperes, for extremely short durations. “For a few tenths of a second to a few seconds, we can reproduce the power of a power plant”, specifies Christophe Creusot, technical manager of the platform at SuperGrid Institute.
While existing rigs only produce alternating current, the Short Circuit Generator is capable of producing the true high voltage direct current encountered by devices in the field. The platform is designed to carry out short-circuit tests on multiple equipment at different frequencies: 50 Hz, 60 Hz, even 16.667 Hz (for certain niches found for example in railways) and up to 80 kA . And when it is coupled to the generators at General Electric’s CERDA test laboratory, which is located on the neighboring site in Villeurbanne, it will be able to carry out tests at currents of the order of 140 kA.
“Our platform is the only one in Europe to generate true direct currents, as on a network. This is extremely important, since high voltage DC networks are the power grids of the future. This represents a real competitive advantage for the research we are conducting on new direct current circuit breakers,” says Hubert de la Grandière, Managing Director of Super Grid Institute.
SuperGrid Institute has allocated €45.9 million to carry out this short-circuit generator project. A substantial effort which benefited from the support of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region to the tune of €10 million.
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