American Superconductor (AMSC), a provider of energy technologies, has been provided with a fund of $12m by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to AMSC under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to complete its ongoing superconductor smart grid projects.
AMSC is expected to receive $4.8m in additional funding to develop a three-phase 138 kilovolt (kV) fault current limiter (FCL) using the company’s 344 superconductors. AMSC serves as a project manager and wire supplier. The project team also includes Southern California Edison, Siemens AG, Nexans and Los Alamos National Laboratory. For this project DOE is providing approximately $8m in funding .
AMSC is expected to receive $7.6m in additional funding for the second phase of its superconductor power cable project with Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), which is a transmission voltage (138kV) extension of the superconductor cable system that was commissioned in LIPA’s grid in 2008. The extension uses AMSC’s second generation (2G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire, branded as 344 superconductors. For this project the DOE is providing approximately $12m .
Kevin S. Law, president and chief executive officer of LIPA, said: “The Long Island Power Authority, the first utility in the world to commission an HTS power transmission cable system, commends the Department of Energy for funding Phase II of this critical project, which will allow us to expand the existing transmission line demonstration project to connect between two major substations on Long Island. Superconducting cables are a key ingredient in advancing smart grid technology that will help us fulfil our objective of continuing to provide safe, reliable, and efficient service to our customers. This award is the next step in demonstrating the value of superconductivity and we look forward to our continued work with American Superconductor and DOE on this important project.”