SCARLET

The EU project SCARLET unites 15 partners from 7 countries around the goal of designing and industrially manufacturing superconducting cables to enable more efficient and less costly power transmission from renewable electricity generation sites.

Superconductivity is a phenomenon occurring when specific materials are cooled to very low temperatures, allowing for the transmission of electricity without any resistive losses. The SCARLET project will make use of these advantages by developing cables that transfer very high powers in very small conductors. The goal is to bring the technology to the last qualification step before commercialization.

The project look at the whole range of effects of superconducting cables, as their properties open the door for cost savings beyond the cables themselves. For instance, the high current carrying capability of the cables allows for a reduction in voltage level, leading to smaller and much less expensive equipment at offshore wind power farms. 

Another novelty to be developed is the transport of electricity and hydrogen in the same pipeline. The ambitious targets call for intensive research in the years to come by the industrial partners Absolut System, ASG Superconductors, Nexans, RINA Consulting, SuperGrid Institute, SuperNode, and Vision Electric Super Conductors, and the research institutes and universities ESPCI, IASS, RSE, SINTEF, IEE Slovak Academy of Sciences, University of Bologna, and WavEC.