A new type of power cable promises to increase efficiency of the U.S. electricity grid by 7-10%, based on tests being conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in collaboration with SuperPower, Inc, a subsidiary of Royal Philips Electronics (AEX:PHI; NYSE:PHG).
The Albany High-Temperature Superconducting (HTS) Cable Project is the world’s first use of second-generation HTS wire on the grid. The 350-meter HTS cable runs between the Riverside and Menands Substations in Albany, New York. The DOE said HTS cables encounter essentially no resistance in electricity flow, which increases efficiency by eliminating 7-10% of the energy losses of conventional copper-based cables.
The DOE has invested more than $13.5 million in the $27 million project.
The first phase of the Albany HTS Cable Project, installed and energized in July 2006, was initially comprised of two sections, a 320-meter long section connected to another 30-meter section, both fabricated with first generation HTS wire. During Phase 2 of this demonstration project in 2007, the 30-meter section was removed and replaced with an equal section fabricated from SuperPower’s new second-generation HTS wire. This highly efficient HTS technology has the potential for widespread use in a number of energy applications, including motors, generators, transformers, cables, and fault current limiters, the DOE said.
This project builds upon the recently announced licensing agreement between DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and SuperPower to use an ORNL-developed technology to lower the production costs of superconducting wires. When combined with other wire technologies that have been licensed from DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the SuperPower manufacturing process can lower the cost of producing superconducting wires for more efficient transmission of electricity, according to a DOE release.
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