Application of MgB₂ in superconducting wind turbine generators

Offshore wind market demands higher power rate and more reliable turbines in order to optimize capital and operational costs. The state-of-the-art shows that both geared and direct-drive generators are difficult to scale up to 10 MW and beyond. Their huge size and weight would drive up the cost of both fixed and floating foundations, as well as installation, operation and maintenance costs. New solutions to provide better power scalability, topside weight reduction and reliability are needed. Superconducting materials arise as a prominent solution for lightweight, high power wind generators construction [1]. There are already several superconducting generator concepts, but they face important challenges as cost, complexity and reliability. This work presents the application of MgB₂ superconducting wire in an innovative 10 MW class lightweight, robust and reliable generator for wind turbines, which gives answer to the offshore sector demands while overcomes other superconducting generators challenges.