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news release:
Zenergy Awarded
Frost & Sullivan Product Innovation of the Year
Rheinbach, Germany, January 16, 2007:
Zenergy Power plc (AIM:ZEN.L),
the specialist manufacturer and developer of commercial applications for
superconductive materials, is pleased to announce that it has been chosen as the
overall winner of the 2006 Frost & Sullivan European Product Innovation of the
Year Award for its research and development work in the field of
high-temperature superconductors (‘HTS’). The prestigious award has been gained
by the Group in recognition of its innovative, advanced second generation HTS
wires (‘2G wires’) for electric power and magnet applications. The Board
considers this to be of particular significance at a time when the Group is
gaining commercial traction for these applications within the field of renewable
energy production.
Frost & Sullivan Senior Research Analyst Kasturi Nadkarny, commented: “With a
view towards reducing equipment transportation and installation costs, wind
turbine producers are constantly looking for lighter, cheaper and more efficient
component materials and devices. In this context, Zenergy’s lightweight, highly
conductive 2G wires are emerging at the forefront.”
The Group’s HTS wires have 100X the current density of traditional copper wires.
Due to their high-performance characteristics and superior efficiency levels
they are gaining widespread appeal in key application areas such as renewable
energy production and energy intensive industrial processes. Within the metals
industry conventional induction heaters are associated with high power losses
owing to the inefficiency of the materials used. As Zenergy’s HTS wires do not
offer any resistance to the flow of electricity at low temperatures and do not
generate heat, they half the operating costs of induction heaters, significantly
reducing the overall cost of industrial metals production and greatly reducing
carbon emissions.
Zenergy has pioneered two classes of HTS wires. To date, industrial production
relies on the current generation of HTS wire (‘1G wire’). The wires are in the
form of multifilaments and possess reinforcements in order to meet the varying
demands of industrial applications. The superconductor ceramic is made of
bismuth-strontium-copper-calcium oxide which enables it to achieve a very high
current density.
Ms. Nadkarny, Frost & Sullivan added: "In order to lower production costs, a
second generation of HTS wire (‘2G wire’) is being developed by the company,
based on the same class of materials but manufactured using thin film technology
in an all chemical deposition process. The materials used for the manufacture of
2G wire employ yttrium-barium-copper oxide which allows for manufacturing costs
to be considerably reduced when compared to 1G wire and have the potential to
lower the costs of HTS beneath that of copper.”
Because of its inherent characteristics, 2G wire is expected to be able to
provide the robustness critical for industrial processes, significantly lower
the loss of current density during inert stabilisation and to be capable of mass
production for large scale applications.
The Frost & Sullivan Product Innovation Award is presented to a company that has
demonstrated excellence in new products and technologies within its industry.
The recipient company has shown innovation by launching a broad line of emerging
products and technologies.
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