As recent economic studies favour the commercialization of MHD for power generation, the status of the technology development is analysed. The most significant obstacle to the early mtroduction of MHD generators is the lagging development of large scale superconducting magnets. Development in this area can be seen as an example of intensive international co-operation.
Large superconducting magnets -a key issue in commercialization of MHD V.A. Ovcharenko
The so-called 'Energy Crisis' has stimulated broad interest in energy through efficient utilization of fuel, especially in electricity generation, which is responsible for 20-25% of total energy demand. The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) method of electrical power generation is possibly the best prospect for a large-scale, high efficiency electricity production with an acceptable impact on the enviroment, even in the case of low-grade, high-sulphur coal utilization.
Over the past fifteen years, the technological developments in the field of MHD have progressed to the point where the first pilot plant is already operating at predicted parameters in the USSR, and plans are underway to construct an MHD power generator of about a 500 MW scale as a 'topping' to the conventional steam cycle in a utility power station.
Recent comparative economic analyses of about a dozen new advanced electrical power generation concepts in the USA have suggested a significant economic appeal toward the commercialization of MHD. This paper analyses the status of MHD technological development, which has been a unique example of intensive international co-operation, and underlines that the lagging of the development of a large-scale superconducting magnet could become one of the most significant obstacles to the early introduction of MHD generators in electrical utilities systems.