May 4 2005
American Superconductor Corporation announced today that it has received an order for 48,760 meters (approximately 30 miles) of high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire from Ultera(TM) to manufacture a 200-meter-long HTS power cable to serve the electrical distribution load fed from a large substation in Columbus, Ohio. The cable will be operated starting in mid-2006 by American Electric Powe.
The U.S. Department of Energy is providing half of the $8.65 million of funding for this cable demonstration project. When complete in the summer of 2006, the HTS cable is expected to supply power to approximately 8,200 residential and industrial AEP customers. The new cable would replace existing overhead aluminum bus in the 13 kV portion of the substation. Details of the project are available here.
"Superconductivity is one of several promising technologies that we expect to play a significant role in solving the nation's power grid problems," said Kevin Kolevar, Director of DOE's Office of Electricity and Energy Assurance. "This project is a very important step in the development of new, high capacity HTS cables that are necessary to assure the security and reliability of the nation's power networks."
Ultera is a joint venture between two of the world's leading wire and cable firms, Southwire Company, located in Carrollton, Georgia, and nkt cables, based in Cologne, Germany. Ultera is dedicated to the development and commercialization of HTS power cables.
"We decided to use AMSC's wire in our HTS cable after a thorough evaluation of HTS wires from vendors around the world," said Stuart Thorn, chief executive of Southwire. "AMSC's wire is clearly the best in class. And we are proud to have them join our project team because of their deep experience and knowledge in superconductivity and transmission planning, both of which are vital to the successful deployment of HTS power cable systems."
AMSC has joined the Ultera/DOE project team that, in addition to the host electric utility, AEP, comprises Praxair (NYSE: PX) for cryogenic systems, TechCenter for power controls, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory for supporting technology and research.
"We are honored to join this outstanding industry-government partnership and to have been selected as the HTS wire supplier for this important cable project," said Greg Yurek, AMSC's chief executive. "We believe this project represents another key step in the growth of the new worldwide HTS industry and in the creation of solutions for our nation's aging power grid."
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