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news release:
Unique High-Temperature Superconducting Cable
Project is Online In Albany, NY
Schenectady, NY, July 25: The world’s first in-grid superconducting power
cable has gone online in Albany, New York, on July 20, 2006. The 350-meter
underground cable—a demonstration of high-temperature superconducting (HTS)
applications to improve electric power transmission and distribution—is
operating at 34,500 volts, with a nominal current carrying capacity of 800
amperes. The cable—developed under the direction of
SuperPower with
partners Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. of Osaka, Japan, and BOC of Murray
Hill, New Jersey—links the Riverside and Menands substations of the North Albany
Service Center at National Grid.
The system at the Albany cable project currently uses first-generation HTS wire,
but in a later phase, scheduled in about a year, a portion of the system will be
replaced with cable using second-generation conductor to further demonstrate its
viability. The second-generation HTS conductor, developed by SuperPower, is
considered more cost-efficient and commercially viable than first-generation HTS.
“Use of HTS technology in electric power transmission and distribution has the
potential for enormous impact on consumers and the utility industry,” said
Philip J. Pellegrino, president of SuperPower. “Congestion on our electrical
highways has become a major problem. Not only does inefficiency in the current
system cost consumers billions of dollars a year, it also threatens the overall
reliability of our power delivery network. HTS cable technology enables
transmission and distribution of power through much smaller cables than
comparably rated conventional copper conduits—plus HTS technology is safer and
more environmentally friendly. All of this is especially important in congested
urban areas.”
The cable system uses first-generation BSCCO-based HTS wire and will be in
operation for about a year. At the same time the team will work on the project’s
second phase, consisting of a 30-meter section of cable using more than six
miles of SuperPower’s second-generation YBCO-based HTS wire, which is expected
to be substantially less expensive to manufacture. That will replace a segment
in the existing cable, which is expected to further improve the performance of
the cable, ultimately reduce the cost of the system and improve prospects for
commercialization.
SuperPower Inc. (www.superpower-inc.com),
a subsidiary of Intermagnetics General Corporation (NASDAQ:IMGC),
uses core capabilities in materials, cryogenics and magnetics to develop
state-of-the-art second-generation high-temperature superconducting wire and
electric power components for underground transmission and distribution cables,
transformers, motors, generators and fault current limiters.
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