HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS Secretary Richardson, Governor Roy Barnes Dedicate Largest Superconducting Cable Installation Partnership Results in Power Transmission Breakthrough
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 18, 2000 NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: John B. Townsend II, 202-586-5806 R-00-042

The first industrial application of high-temperature superconducting cables to transmit electricity were dedicated today by Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson, Georgia Governor Roy Barnes and Southwire Company Chairman Roy Richards. The three cables will carry electricity to the Southwire Company’s headquarters in Carrollton, Georgia to power three manufacturing plants.

"This is an exciting first step toward the practical deployment of superconducting technology which promises to do for electric transmission what fiber optics is doing for communications," said Richardson as he threw the switch activating the high temperature superconducting cables. "These cables, developed through a partnership of the Energy Department and the private sector, will move larger amounts of electricity using the same space or less space than traditional cable, increasing energy efficiency, enhancing grid reliability and reducing costs for businesses and consumers."

Superconductivity is the ability of special materials to carry large electrical currents without resistance energy losses. The installation dedicated today is the culmination of a $15.3 million joint venture funded equally between the private sector and the Department of Energy (DOE). In 1998, the Energy Department began working in partnership with the Southwire Company to support research into manufacturing methods for wires cables that would make the most use of the new technology.

"This announcement is another example of Georgia’s leadership in technology" said Georgia Governor Roy E. Barnes.

"As the global population continues to boom and the world economy grows, those involved in the distribution of electricity will have to explore new ways of delivering power to blossoming customer bases," said Roy Richards, Jr., Southwire’s chief executive officer. "Southwire Company is excited to play a part in one of the solutions - high temperature superconducting cables. For years, superconductors have represented the promise of more energy-efficient and cost-effective electrical power delivery. The live installation of this HTS system is a giant step forward in making that promise a reality.

Scientists have long known about superconductivity’s potential as an energy source. However, because it required such low temperatures to function, it was deemed impractical as an electric transmission medium. In the late 1980s, Nobel-prize winning discoveries of a new class of superconducting material which would operate at higher temperatures made it economical to exploit the energy advantages of superconductivity for the first time.

Following the discovery of the new class of material, researchers continued to seek a way of converting these materials into a wire or cable capable of carrying an electrical current. The material was ceramic in nature and not conducive to wire fabrication like copper or other metals. Efforts lead by and funded by the Energy Department resulted in new cable fabricating technology which allowed use of the ceramics in a wire and thus made them available for the transmission of electricity.

These new wires have 100 times the carrying capacity of conventional copper wire and transmit power with much less loss of electricity along the way. Because the materials are more energy efficient and require much less area to transmit the same amount of electricity, the process reduces the need for new power lines and generating plants.

The DOE’s Superconductivity program is backed by a research budget of $31.4 million in FY 2000. The Fiscal Year 2001 budget request recently submitted to Congress includes $32 million for additional superconductivity research and development activities.

Other partners in the project dedicated today include Intermagnetics Corporation, Plastronics-EURUS, Southern Company Services, Georgia Transmission Corporation, Southern California Edison, the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.

The Department of Energy researches, develops, and deploys clean, efficient and renewable energy technologies to help meet America’s energy needs while protecting the environment and strengthening the economy. Energy technologies supported and promoted by the department will play a key role in providing Clean Energy for the 21^st Century.