American Superconductor Completes Shipment of HTS Wire to Pirelli for Detroit Edison Power Cable Project
WESTBOROUGH, Mass., Sep 6, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
HTS Power Cables a Key to Increasing Capacity and
Reliability of Power Grids
American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC chart, msgs) announced today that it had completed all of the high temperature superconducting (HTS) wire needed to manufacture the world's first HTS power cable to be installed in a utility grid. Just over 18 miles of HTS wire were manufactured and shipped to Pirelli Cables and Systems, the world's largest power cable manufacturer. Pirelli expects to complete manufacture of the HTS cable by the end of 2000. The cable will then be shipped to Detroit Edison (NYSE: DTE chart, msgs) and installed in the Frisbie Station, located in downtown Detroit, where operation is scheduled to start during the second quarter of 2001. This project is partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Superconductivity Partnership Initiative (SPI).
The announcement was made today at a meeting of officials from Pirelli, Detroit Edison, EPRI, the U.S. Department of Energy and American Superconductor, all participants in the Detroit HTS cable project. The partners met at the site of Pirelli's dedicated HTS power cable facility near Milan, Italy to witness manufacture of the cables. Pirelli is manufacturing three HTS cables, each of which will be about 400 feet long and about four inches in diameter. The cables are sized to fit into existing ductwork under the Frisbie Station. For photos of the installation site, please see detroitedison.com. Additional project details can be found under the Research & Development area of Pirelli's corporate web site, pirelli.com.
"The HTS wire performance specs we had to meet for this cable installation were extremely tough - both in terms of electrical performance and ruggedness," said Greg Yurek, American Superconductor's chief executive officer. "We have now met not only these very tough performance specs, but also our goal for a high-volume, low-cost manufacturing methodology. This means we'll not only have a successful HTS cable installation in Detroit, we'll also have cost-effective HTS wire for multiple commercial applications, including cables, motors and generators."
In the period June 1996 to January 1999, Pirelli developed, manufactured and tested a complete HTS cable system. This system included a 165-foot HTS cable made with wire produced in early 1996 by American Superconductor, a joint and two terminations as well as the necessary refrigeration equipment. The cable was developed with EPRI as part of a previous phase in the SPI program. This cable still commands the position of the highest performance HTS cable ever made.
"We learned a lot in our first HTS cable demonstration," said Eugenio Razelli, senior vice president of Pirelli's global power cable business. "The experience from our earlier work has been applied to the Detroit cable demonstration, which we believe can open the gateway to commercial HTS cables within the next few years."
American Superconductor's final wire shipment comprised a total of approximately 4.25 miles of HTS wire (to view a photo of the wire being prepared for shipment, see www.amsuper.com/detroit.htm. Each of the high power density HTS wires is capable of carrying more than 100 times the power of copper wires with the same dimensions. Using this wire, the three HTS cables to be installed in the Frisbie Station will carry 100 megawatts of power, the same amount of power carried by the nine copper cables they will replace. This will leave six ducts open, which can be used for additional HTS cables to increase the power throughput of the existing right of way, or for installation of other assets, such as high-speed Internet or telecommunications cables.
The ability of HTS power cables to carry much larger quantities of electrical power in the same right of way currently being occupied by conventional copper or aluminum cables means that the capacity, and hence, the reliability of power grids can be enhanced significantly. This is important at a time when the power grid is being stressed because of the demand for more power to run the digital economy. Some industry experts estimate that digital applications currently consume about 10 percent of the power generated in the U.S. and that this will increase significantly over the next 15 years.
"The power grid is here to stay," commented Yurek. "The challenge is to create new ways to transport massive amounts of power through the grid to meet customer needs for more power. I believe HTS power cables will provide a very effective solution."
Technical Background
Superconductors are materials that carry large quantities of electricity with zero electrical resistance when cooled to very low, or cryogenic temperatures. While superconductors have been known for decades, the only commercial application until recently was in medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices. These devices utilize low temperature superconductor (LTS) wires. In 1986, two IBM scientists discovered a new family of superconductor materials that still require cooling to cryogenic temperatures, but that operate at 5 to 20 times higher temperatures than the old LTS materials. The new materials, which are ceramic compounds, have become known as high temperature superconductors (HTS). The lower cost of cooling these new materials significantly enhanced the commercial economics of superconductor applications, and created the possibility of using high power density superconducting wires in electric power applications, such as power cables, motors and generators. American Superconductor has over 200 patents, patent applications and licenses related to the manufacture of HTS wires and the applications of superconductors to electric power applications.
American Superconductor
American Superconductor Corporation, headquartered in Westborough, Mass., was founded in 1987 and is a world leader in developing and manufacturing products utilizing superconducting materials and power electronic devices for electric power applications. The company's products, and products sold by electrical equipment manufacturers that incorporate its products, can dramatically increase the capacity and reliability of power delivery networks, significantly reduce the manufacturing costs of electrical equipment such as motors and generators, lower electrical operating costs and conserve resources that are used to produce electric power. For more information, please visit us at www.amsuper.com.
Certain statements in this release, including statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will" and similar expressions, constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include the uncertainties that : the company will be able to obtain the anticipated funding from corporate and government contracts; the company will be able to successfully develop and manufacture commercial products; a robust market will develop for the company's products; and the company will secure anticipated orders. Additionally such factors include: the risk that strategic alliances and other contracts may be terminated; the risk that certain technologies utilized by the company will infringe intellectual property rights of others; the competition encountered by the company, including several large Japanese companies; the amount and timing of the company's future cash requirements and the availability of satisfactory financing sources. Reference is made to these and other factors discussed in the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation" section of the company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
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