The invention provides a thyristor-based solid state fault current limiter. The solid state fault current limiter comprises three single-phase current limiters; each single-phase current limiter comprises a main circuit and a breaker; the main circuit comprises a first current-limiting reactor and a second current-limiting reactor that are in series connection, and a first thyristor and a second thyristor; the solid state fault current limiter is serially connected to a power transmission line; when the circuit has no faults, the current limiter works normally, the thyristor is switched on constantly, and the equivalent impedance of the current limiter is basically 0; when the circuit has faults, the current limiter enters a current-limiting working state automatically without delay to limit a first peak value of the short circuit current; then the two current-limiting reactors are fully connected to the circuit by removing the trigger signal of the thyristor to limit a steady-state value of the short circuit current. The thyristor-based solid state fault current limiter has low demand on the fault identification speed without requiring to add a bypass current-limiting reactor, so that the thyristor-based solid state fault current limiter is simple in structure, high in reliability, and convenient in engineering applications.