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Superconductivity News Update

NOVEMBER 2008

HTS POWER CABLE PROJECT UPDATE

The ever-increasing demand for electric power has led to congestion on our electrical grids. This demand has generated a necessity for more reliable, higher efficiency cables to modernize our aging electrical infrastructure. High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) cables technology provides a solution by utilizing less wire and transmitting five times more electricity than currently used conventional cables.

Since HTS cables carry three to five times the amount of power compared to their antiquated copper cable counterpart, they make an attractive alternative to relieve cable system congestion in densely populated urban areas. They also occupy less space and can be retrofitted into existing underground conduits, eliminating the need for additional trenching, tunneling and new right-of-way corridors.

To establish HTS cables as an attractive new technology, it is necessary to prove their value to utilities and end users. To accomplish this effort, the Department of Energy (DOE), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) established partnerships with various cable companies, utilities, state agencies and many stakeholders to enact cable projects. DOE, as of today, has funded the demonstration of HTS power cables in four U.S. power grids and just announced the

funding of a fifth. The cable projects to date have proven the technology’s transmission potential, its reliability, and most importantly provided power to people in constrained urban settings, such as Albany, New York.

DOE’s efforts have also facilitated other HTS cable projects, such as the cable project in development in NYC. The Resilient Electric Grid (REG) program, a.k.a. Project Hydra, in NYC-Manhattan will build on the foundation of DOE and U.S. private industry’s 10+ years of expertise in collaborative research and development. The project will implement a prototype Inherent Fault Current Limiting High Temperature Superconductor Cable which will make the grid more reliable and increase the security of the infrastructure.

"The Department of Energy believes HTS technology is vitally important to the modernization of the nation's power grid," said Kevin Kolevar, Director of the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability. "We are pleased to see the Secure Super Grid project in New York City building on the platform DOE helped to create over the past 20 years in partnership with U.S. industry. The Secure Super Grid project is the next logical step for short-length HTS applications as the Department continues to improve wire performance and materials challenges required for longer length projects and higher voltages. Together, these activities will help propel HTS technology toward commercialization."

Each cable project leads HTS cables and technology a step closure to commercialization and utilization. These cable projects demonstrate the reliability, security, and potential benefits to our nation’s power grid.

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