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New
Release -- Superconductor Week does not edit or endorse the following
news release: AMSC
Introduces Surge-Suppressing, High-Capacity Superconductor Power Grid Technology
Westborough, MA, 21 May 2007:
American Superconductor Corporation, a leading energy technologies
company, today introduced a new surge-suppressing, high-capacity superconductor
power grid technology - a system-level solution that increases the capacity of
power grids while also being able to rapidly suppress power surges. This
technology is expected to significantly enhance the capacity, security and
efficiency of electric power infrastructures in urban and metropolitan areas
around the world, enabling "Secure Super Grids." AMSC's high temperature
superconductor (HTS) wire, which conducts large amounts of electricity with very
high efficiency, is a core component in Secure Super Grids.
"Secure Super Grids will provide cities and
metropolitan areas around the globe with a powerful new tool to increase the
security and efficiency of power networks and meet customer demand for more
electricity in today's digital, green economy," said Greg Yurek, founder and CEO
of AMSC. "Our proprietary Secure Super Grids technology builds on more than a
decade of HTS power cable test and demonstration successes. This technology
utilizes a new network-level solution approach that we believe can be readily
adopted by utilities around the world utilizing a variety of power cable
architectures operating at both transmission and distribution voltages. We
expect this system solution to be a catalyst for rapid adoption of HTS
technology in power grids."
Secure Super Grids utilize multiple paths for
electricity flow in city power grids to ensure system reliability when
individual circuits are disrupted due to severe weather, traffic accidents or
willful destruction. In addition, they utilize the special properties of
superconductors to not only relieve grid congestion, but also instantly suppress
power surges that often damage utility equipment and disrupt customer service.
To view an animation of Secure Super Grids in action, please visit http://www.amsc.com/products/hydra.cfm.
In a separate press release issued this morning,
AMSC announced that it has teamed with Consolidated Edison of New York and the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deploy the first Secure Super Grid
to protect New York City's power grid. The Department of Homeland Security will
invest in the development of this technology to enable Secure Super Grids in the
United States. Phase 1 of this project includes a system demonstration by the
end of 2008. The second phase of the project will focus on the deployment of a
Secure Super Grid system in New York City at an undisclosed location, with
commissioning planned for early 2010.
Power cables made with HTS wire inside can
conduct up to 10 times the amount of power of today's conventional cables of the
same size, which are made with copper wire inside. By replacing copper cables
with high-capacity HTS cables in cities using existing underground tunnels and
ductwork, utilities can avoid digging up city streets while also relieving grid
congestion and increasing the reliability and security of power networks. AMSC's
proprietary technology goes a step further by integrating customized HTS wires
known as 344 superconductors with ancillary control systems to allow the power
grid to automatically and instantaneously suppress power surges that occur in
city power delivery networks due to short circuits.
AMSC announced that it has chosen Southwire
Company to carry out the detailed design work related to HTS cable and
termination construction, as well as the manufacture of the world's first HTS
power cable that will be used in a Secure Super Grid system. This cable will
utilize Southwire's proprietary HTS Triax(TM) cable design and AMSC's
proprietary 344 superconductors.
"The Southwire HTS Triax cable system that we
installed in a substation near Columbus, Ohio in August 2006 has been working
flawlessly," said Stu Thorn, CEO of Southwire. "The combination of Southwire's
cost-effective HTS Triax cable with AMSC's Secure Super Grid technology opens
tremendous additional opportunities for HTS cables around the world. We look
forward to prototype testing and manufacturing the first HTS cable to be
utilized in a Secure Super Grid and bringing this new product to market."
Many companies around the world including AMSC
have been working to develop stand-alone superconductor fault current limiters
that are capable of suppressing power surges - or "fault currents" - to prevent
damage to expensive electrical equipment in today's power grids. AMSC's Secure
Super Grids technology is the first to combine the benefits of high capacity HTS
cables and fault current limiters in one system, providing compelling space and
cost advantages, particularly for urban and metropolitan areas. AMSC expects the
global market for this technology and stand-alone fault current limiters will
exceed a billion dollars annually.
Much progress has been made over the past decade
in developing and demonstrating HTS cable technology thanks in large part to
cost sharing by the Department of Energy in several HTS cable projects in the
U.S. The first HTS cable system operated in North America was energized in 2000
in Carrollton, GA and served the industrial load for Southwire Company's
manufacturing complex for seven years. Today, distribution-voltage HTS cables
are serving customers in Columbus, Ohio and Albany, NY. Later this year, a third
U.S. HTS cable, operating at transmission voltage will be energized in Long
Island Power Authority's grid. Seven additional HTS cable projects are underway
in China, Japan, Korea and Mexico. AMSC's HTS wire is being utilized in 70% of
the world's current HTS cable projects.
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