KEMA has recently developed a working prototype superconductor for energy storage. The device can serve as a stand-by station. It can be used to compensate for small voltage dips or to inject reserve power into the network.  

A superconductor conducts electricity without resistance. The energy losses are negligible or nonexistent. Superconductors can be used for generators, transformers or cables, but also for storage. Moreover, superconductor-based systems are much more compact than the conventional systems.
There was a lot of research done in the 1990s, when ceramic high temperature superconductors were discovered. In contrast to the earlier low temperature superconductors these can operate at 20 to 100 Kelvin instead of 4 Kelvin. This superconductor does not require such extreme cooling and can therefore be cooled by less expensive means. In the USA it is already being used in the shipping industry.

SMES
In the EU funded R&D project ‘Hipolity’ KEMA developed a prototype SMES, a Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage system based on ceramic high-temperature superconductor. The device can serve as a stand-by station for a hospital or an energy-intensive form of industry. It can be used to compensate for small voltage dips, particularly quick, short dips of up to 300 milliseconds. It can be used also to inject reserve power into the network.  
In this project KEMA served as a R&D partner to enable a multidisciplinary technological development by different SME companies that could never develop such an innovative system alone. In a combined effort composite plastic vessel has been produced. After extensive testing, this proved to be vacuum tight. Other innovations are the cooling system and construction, the production of the coils that are the actual magnet and the development and testing of suitable power electronics The complete system is ready and tested by several PhD students at the Polish Silesian University.