American Superconductor Corporation
(NASDAQ: AMSC), a leading energy technologies company, today announced that
it has expanded its strategic alliance with Shanghai Electric Cable Research
Institute (SECRI) and has received a new order for AMSC’s high temperature
superconductor (HTS) wire. SECRI will use the HTS wire to develop and manufacture
a 30-meter-long, 35 kilovolt (kV) cable system. SECRI is the leading research,
development and standardization institution for China's wire and cable industry
and is one of two centers that test and certify power cables for China.
Under the terms of the expanded strategic alliance, AMSC will deliver HTS wire
and provide consulting services to SECRI. SECRI will develop the cable system
with support from the local Shanghai government.
“In addition to the transmission voltage superconductor cables we have
been developing, we now are developing distribution voltage superconductor cable
systems for the Chinese market,” said SECRI’s General Manager Wei
Dong, “We are confident that our continued successful cooperation with
AMSC will enable rapid adoption of superconductor cable systems. We expect the
first superconductor cable deployment in China’s power grid system to
occur early in the next decade and that this will lead to widespread adoption
of superconductor cables throughout China.”
AMSC first formed a strategic business alliance with SECRI in 2006 to develop
and promote the use of superconductor power transmission cables in China. Under
the terms of the alliance, AMSC is the preferred supplier of HTS wire to SECRI
and the recommended preferred HTS wire supplier to SECRI’s cable manufacturing
licensees for all superconductor cables. AMSC also is providing consulting services
to SECRI for its superconductor power cable development program. AMSC and SECRI
are now broadening their relationship to include distribution voltage cables.
Under the expanded collaborative effort, the companies will jointly work to
develop the Chinese market for SECRI’s cable designs and cable manufacturing
equipment expertise as well as AMSC’s HTS wire. They will also develop
localized HTS cable design and manufacturing capabilities to supply the Chinese
market.
“We are pleased that SECRI continues to work together with AMSC to modernize
China’s power grid through the use of superconductor technology,”
said AMSC Superconductors’ General Manager Dan McGahn. “SECRI is
one of China’s most respected power cable authorities and is a leader
in advanced cable designs and technologies. We both see superconductor cables
playing a pivotal role in distributing power in densely populated metropolitan
centers such as Shanghai where a premium is placed both on space and power quality.”
Power cables made with AMSC’s HTS wire inside can conduct up to 10 times
the amount of power of conventional cables, which are made with copper wire
inside. They can be placed strategically in the power grid to draw flow from
overtaxed conventional cables or overhead lines to mitigate grid congestion
experienced in urban centers. They also can automatically suppress dangerous
power surges to create resilient, ‘self-healing’ grids that can
survive attacks and natural disasters making them an ideal modernization tool
for metropolitan power grids.