Abstract: To meet the challenge of ever-increasing fault current level in the power grid,various fault current limiters have been proposed and developed over the past decades.However,with a few exceptions,there has been little progress in developing products feasible for commercial applications.This paper attempts to give an overview of current states and technical features of the leading fault current limiters,and to analyze the restrictions to its penetration into power market.Finally,the development trend and future prospect of FCL are projected,with special reference to the recent innovation tendency in making FCL more competitive,including extending its applications to smart grid and further improving its tech-economic performance by technology convergence.