American Superconductor (AMSC) is an American energy technologies company based in Ayer, Massachusetts specializing in the design and manufacture of

power system An electric power system is a network of electrical components deployed to supply, transfer, and use electric power. An example of a power system is the electrical grid that provides power to homes and industries within an extended area. The e ...

s and

superconducting Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike ...

wire. It owns AMSC Windtech in Klagenfurt,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...

Detroit Edison Project

American Superconductor installed a test of a superconducting electric power transmission power cable in the

Detroit Edison DTE Electric Company (formerly The Detroit Edison Company) was founded in 1886. DTE Electric's power generation portfolio includes renewable energy, but is primarily generated by fossil fuels. In 2021, 67.32% of electricity generated by DTE cam ...

Frisbee substation in 2001.

Holbrook Superconductor Project

The world's first production

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission ** ...

power cable, the

Holbrook Superconductor Project The Holbrook Superconductor Project is the world's first production superconducting transmission power cable. The lines were commissioned in 2008. The suburban Long Island electrical substation is fed by a 600 meter long tunnel containing approxima ...

, was commissioned in late June 2008. The suburban Long Island

electrical substation A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station and ...

is fed by about 600 meters of superconductor wire manufactured by American Superconductor, installed underground and chilled to superconducting temperatures with

liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen—LN2—is nitrogen in a liquid state at low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, low viscosity liquid that is wide ...

Tres Amigas Project

American Superconductor was chosen as a supplier for the Tres Amigas Project, the United States' first renewable energy market hub. The Tres Amigas renewable energy market hub will be a multi-mile, triangular electricity pathway of Superconductor Electricity Pipelines capable of transferring and balancing many gigawatts of power between three U.S. power grids (the Eastern Interconnection, the Western Interconnection and the Texas Interconnection). Unlike traditional powerlines, it will transfer power as DC instead of AC current. It will be located in

Clovis, New Mexico Clovis is a city in and the county seat of Curry County, New Mexico. The city had a population of 37,775 as of the 2010 census, and a 2019 estimated population of 38,319. Clovis is located in the New Mexico portion of the Llano Estacado, in the ...

2009 government stimulus

In 2009, the

Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-relat ...

announced that they would provide $4.8M to AMSC for further development of superconducting electrical cables.

Sinovel Controversy

In early 2011, a Serbian employee of American Superconductor sold the company's proprietary wind turbine control software to the company's largest customer, China based Sinovel. Sinovel promptly ended its payments to American Superconductor, causing the company to lose 84% of its market cap. The employee was bribed for only $20,500, and later pleaded guilty to bribery charges.

Korea's LS Cable

AMSC will sell three million meters of wire to allow LS Cable to build 10–15 miles of superconducting cabling for the grid. This represents an order of magnitude increase over the size of the current largest installation, at Long Island Power.

HTS rotors

AMSC has demonstrated a 36.5 MW (49,000 horsepower)

High-temperature superconductor High-temperature superconductors (abbreviated high-c or HTS) are defined as materials that behave as superconductors at temperatures above , the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. The adjective "high temperature" is only in respect to previo ...

(HTS) electric motor for the United States Navy, and is developing a similar 10 MW wind turbine generator through its wholly owned

-based subsidiary AMSC Windtec. This would be one of the most powerful turbines in the World. It operates at 30–40 kelvins, and the cooling system uses 40 kW.Fischer, Martin
New Path to 10 MW
''Renewable Energy World'', 12 October 2010. Retrieved: 14 October 2010.

References

External links

American Superconductor website
{{Authority control Superconductivity Technology companies based in Massachusetts Companies based in Ayer, Massachusetts Energy companies established in 1987 Technology companies established in 1987 1978 establishments in Massachusetts Companies listed on the Nasdaq