The application of superconducting magnet energy storage in power systems was first proposed by Ferrier in 1969. The initial idea was to meet the needs of regulating load changes in the French power system. In the 1970s, making a superconducting coil was easier than making a power electronic device. In 1974, Los Alamos National Laboratory developed the first operational superconducting magnet energy storage system with three-phase inverter. The principle of superconducting magnet energy storage is to use the magnetic field generated by the DC current of the superconducting coil to store energy. In order to reduce energy loss, the energy storage coil needs to be made of superconducting material and immersed in liquid nitrogen or helium. The key technology of superconducting coils is their manufacturing and cooling.

Because there is no need for energy conversion, superconducting magnet energy storage has good dynamic characteristics compared to mechanical energy storage devices, with a response time of seconds. In addition, due to the lack of resistance in the actual coil, superconducting magnet energy storage can generate very high power and also have very high efficiency. However, if there is an AC current component in the coil, even if it is very small, it can cause losses to the superconducting coil. From the above characteristics of superconducting magnet energy storage, it can be seen that superconducting magnets are very suitable for energy storage.