Superconducting magnetic energy storage. A Technological Contribute to Smart Grid Concept Implementation

The urgent need to solve existing problems in the electric grid led to the emergence of the new Smart Grid (SG) concept. A smart grid is usually described as an electricity network that can intelligently integrate the actions of all players connected to it in order to efficiently deliver sustainable, economic and secure electricity supplies. Smart grids should be flexible, accessible, reliable and economic, bringing great new challenges into grid management. In order to implement this concept it is necessary to consider the operation of several new devices in the electrical grid. A class of these potential devices is Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) that present, among other features, very fast response times. SMES devices can play a key role in helping to overcome several grids’ faults. In this paper it is described the possibility to integrate SMES into SG, and the advantages of this integration.