The Holbrook Superconductor Project is the world's first production

superconducting Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in superconductors: materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Unlike an ordinary metallic conductor, whose resistance decreases g ...

transmission Transmission or transmit may refer to: Science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Transmission (mechanical device), technology that allows controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual tra ...

power cable. The lines were commissioned in 2008. The suburban

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

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 an ...

is fed by a 600 meter long tunnel containing approximately 155,000 meters of high-temperature superconductor wire manufactured by

American Superconductor American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) is an American energy technologies company headquartered in Ayer, Massachusetts. The firm specializes in using superconductors for the development of diverse power systems, including but not limited t ...

, installed underground and chilled to superconducting temperature with

liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is nitrogen in a liquid state at cryogenics, low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, mobile liquid whose vis ...

Project

The project was funded by the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

, and operates as part of the

Long Island Power Authority Long Island Power Authority (LIPA, "lie-pah") is a municipal subdivision of the State of New York that owns the electric transmission and electric distribution system serving all of Long Island and a portion of Queens in New York City known as ...

(LIPA) power grid. The project team comprised American Superconductor,

Nexans Nexans S.A. is a global company in the cable and optical fibre industry headquartered in Paris, France. The group is active in four main business areas: buildings and territories (construction, local infrastructure, smart cities / grids, e-mobi ...

Air Liquide Air Liquide S.A. ( , ; literally " liquid air") is a French multinational company which supplies industrial gases and services to various industries including medical, chemical and electronic manufacturers. Founded in 1902, after Linde it is ...

and LIPA. It

broke ground Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, turf-cutting, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such cer ...

on July 4, 2006, was first energized April 22, 2008, and was commissioned on June 25, 2008.https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc842743/m2/1/high_res_d/1046827.pdf Between commissioning and March 2009 refrigeration events impacted normal operation. The superconductor is bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide (BSCCO) which superconducts at liquid nitrogen temperatures. Other parts of the system include a liquid nitrogen storage tank, a

Brayton cycle The Brayton cycle, also known as the Joule cycle, is a thermodynamic cycle that describes the operation of certain heat engines that have air or some other gas as their working fluid. It is characterized by isentropic process, isentropic compre ...

Helium

refrigerator A refrigerator, commonly shortened to fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermal insulation, thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to ...

, and a number of

cryostat A cryostat (from ''cryo'' meaning cold and ''stat'' meaning stable) is a device used to maintain low cryogenic temperatures of samples or devices mounted within the cryostat. Low temperatures may be maintained within a cryostat by using various ...

s which manage the transition between cryogenic and

ambient temperature Room temperature, colloquially, denotes the range of air temperatures most people find comfortable indoors while dressed in typical clothing. Comfortable temperatures can be extended beyond this range depending on humidity, air circulation, and ...

s. The system capacity is 574 MVA with an operating voltage of 138 kV at a maximum current of 2400 A.

References

{{Long Island power Superconductivity Electric power transmission systems in the United States Electric power distribution Energy infrastructure on Long Island, New York

Project

See also

References