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New
Release -- Superconductor Week does not edit or endorse the following
news release: AMSC's 344S
Superconductors Utilized by Hyundai Heavy Industries to Successfully Develop
Commercial Grade Fault Current Limiter
Westborough, MA, 13 February 2007:
American Superconductor
Corporation (NASDAQ:
AMSC), a leading energy technologies company, announced today that Hyundai
Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (Hyundai)
has achieved world record performance levels for fault current limiters (FCL),
which it developed utilizing AMSC's 344S superconductors. Fault current limiters
act as high-voltage surge protectors for power grids to increase reliability and
overall efficiency in the operation of power grids.
Hyundai, headquartered in South Korea, began
development of its FCL in late 2004 in partnership with Yonsei University,
located in Seoul, South Korea. Hyundai successfully developed a 13.2kV/630A FCL
using superconducting coils fabricated with AMSC's 344S superconductors.
"This important advance in the development of
fault current limiters would not have been possible without AMSC's 344S
superconductors," says Dr. Bok-Yeol Seok, principle researcher of the FCL
project, Hyundai Heavy Industries. "We see tremendous opportunities for FCLs in
the near term and are pursuing this market aggressively. We will continue our
development efforts and now have our sights set on producing 30 to 60 kV FCLs
for distribution systems as well as 154 kV FCLs for transmission voltage
levels."
The capacity of Hyundai's FCL is 8.3 megavolt
amperes (8.3MVA). The device operated at a voltage of 13.2 kilovolts (kV), which
corresponds to a three-phase power equipment voltage class of 22.9kV, a new
world record for fault current limiters. The test was first conducted in
December 2006 at the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI). The FCL
achieved an AC withstand voltage of 143 kilovolts (kV), nearly three times
higher than the 50 kV goal of the project. This provides Hyundai with
considerable momentum as it moves into the third phase of the South Korean
government's FCL development program. The FCL program in South Korea is funded
by the Ministry of Science and Technology through the Development of Advanced
Power systems by Applied Superconductivity technologies (DAPAS) program.
"Our 344S superconductors are paving the way for
partners and customers as they work to bring fault current limiters to the
market," said Angelo Santamaria, vice president and general manager, AMSC Wires.
"Utilities around the world have been waiting for a solution that can suppress
current surges and protect their power grids. Thanks to the work being done by
companies like Hyundai, that wait is nearly over."
Hyundai is one of eight companies worldwide
developing FCLs based on AMSC's proprietary 344S superconductors. 344S
superconductors are smart materials because they possess unique physical
properties that allow them to conduct electricity with no resistance under
normal operating conditions, while also being able to recognize and then
instantaneously suppress large surges of electrical current by switching to the
resistive state. Suppressing spikes of electrical current is important because
it prevents damage to expensive electrical equipment in power grids.
About Hyundai Heavy Industries
Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd (HHI)
is one of the world's leading industrial companies, with 26,000 employees and
net sales of USD$13.4 billion in the fiscal year 2006. HHI is also the world's
number one shipbuilder and the world's largest builder of two-stroke diesel
engines for ship propulsion and power generation. Today, HHI has established
itself as an integrated heavy industries company organized into six business
divisions: Shipbuilding, Offshore & Engineering, Industrial Plant & Engineering,
Engine & Machinery, Electro Electric Systems, and Construction Equipment. HHI's
Electro-Electric Systems Division is Korea's leading business unit in the heavy
electric power sector which provides the world market with transformers, switch
gears, rotating machines and power conversion systems. The division is expanding
its business into new environmentally-friendly energy markets such as
photovoltaic generation system and is also seeking out new business
opportunities through R&D commitments, including superconducting electric power
machinery. More information is available at About
AMSC
AMSC (American Superconductor Corporation -
NASDAQ: AMSC) is a leading energy technologies company. The company develops and
sells a wide range of products and solutions based on power electronic systems
and high temperature superconductor (HTS) wires that dramatically improve the
efficiency and quality of electricity during its generation, transmission,
distribution and use. The company is a dominant force in alternative energy,
offering grid interconnection solutions as well as licensed wind energy designs
and electrical systems. As the world's principal supplier of HTS wire, AMSC is
enabling a new generation of compact, high-power electrical products, including
motors, generators, power cables, grid-level surge protectors, and advanced
transportation and defense systems. AMSC also provides utility and industrial
customers worldwide with voltage regulation systems that dramatically enhance
power grid capacity, reliability and security, as well as industrial
productivity. The company's technologies are protected by a broad and deep
intellectual property portfolio consisting of hundreds of patents and licenses
worldwide. More information is available at
www.amsuper.com.
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