Jul 26 2006
American Superconductor Corporation, a leading energy technologies company, announced today it has achieved commercial levels of electric current for the first time in long lengths of second generation (2G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire. This is the first time commercial levels of electrical current have been successfully achieved in long lengths (over 300 feet) by a low cost industrial process, making possible the emergence of this technology from the laboratory into the marketplace. HTS wires conduct large quantities of electricity with 100% efficiency when cooled with environmentally friendly liquid nitrogen, the coolant of choice for superconductor electric power transmission and distribution cables.
"This is a major breakthrough in electricity. It is the first-ever, commercial grade 2G wire that has been produced by a high volume, low-cost, scalable industrial process. I expect that this achievement will have a significant impact on the future of power grids worldwide," said Greg Yurek, chief executive officer, American Superconductor. "I believe this breakthrough will do for the electrical grid what optical fibers did for telecommunications. The emergence of optical fibers had a tremendous ripple effect on areas well beyond telecom, and I believe that HTS wire will produce similar results. Our ultra-thin wires - only the thickness of two human hairs - have the ability to transmit massive amounts of power to, and through, congested urban areas where the greatest demand for power exists. Because of the advances in electrical performance we are achieving day after day with 2G wire and with the continuous reductions we are driving in manufacturing costs, we expect the price-performance ratio of 2G wire to be equivalent to that of copper by the end of the decade."
"AMSC wire is being utilized to manufacture a power transmission cable that will be installed in LIPA's power grid where it will have the ability to transmit 600 megawatts of power - enough electricity to power 300,000 homes," said Mike Hervey, Vice President, Operations at Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). "A key value proposition of superconductor power cables is that they can deliver more power through our grid to meet growing customer demand for electricity."
American Superconductor is rapidly ramping up its 2G wire manufacturing capacity to meet growing demand for more efficient, higher performance electrical products that are more power dense - or deliver more power in a smaller, lighter package. AMSC utilizes a high throughput, low cost, proprietary manufacturing process to manufacture ribbon-shaped wires. "We have now produced lengths of commercial-grade 2G wire in excess of 300 feet that are about 4 millimeters wide and that conduct 140 Amperes of electric current with 100% efficiency when cooled with liquid nitrogen," said Alex Malozemoff, chief technical officer, American Superconductor. "You would need over 100 copper wires of the same dimensions to conduct as much current as one of these 2G wires. To put this into perspective, in high-voltage power transmission systems, just one of these wires would be able to carry enough power to serve the needs of approximately one thousand homes."
"This achievement continues American Superconductor's success in developing and delivering HTS-based electricity solutions to the market," Yurek added. "The need for superconductivity solutions to relieve highly congested electric power grids is being recognized in many levels of world governments and its importance was recently cited in the G-8's Energy Security Plan as one of the new technologies necessary in the construction of advanced electricity grids. This technology has the very real potential to change the world and offer a lower-cost, more energy efficient, environmentally friendly, energy solution."