(Source: Business Wire)
American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC), a global
energy technologies company, and LS Cable Ltd. (LS Cable) today formed a
strategic alliance to advance commercial sales of superconductor cables.
Under the alliance, LS Cable and AMSC will work collaboratively to
deploy at least 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of superconductor power cables
in commercial power grids over the next five years.
LS Cable's superconductor cable systems will utilize AMSC's proprietary
second generation (2G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire,
branded as 344
superconductors. This strategic alliance ensures that LS Cable will
have an ongoing supply of high-quality HTS wire from AMSC. Founded in
1962 and based in Anyang, South Korea, LS Cable is Korea's largest power
cable manufacturer with nearly 8,200 employees worldwide and annual
sales in excess of US$6 billion.
"LS Cable is committed to advancing the broad adoption of superconductor
cable systems to address the power demands and grid reliability
challenges faced by electric utilities today," said Joon Hyung Cho,
Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of LS Cable. "With
several superconductor demonstrations already complete, Korea's power
grid is set to undergo continued upgrades in the years to come. We
formed this strategic alliance with AMSC to advance the commercial
production of superconductor cable systems to support Korea's grid of
the future. We are delighted to expand our relationship with AMSC and
secure the best-in-class superconductor wire needed to manufacture our
commercial superconductor cable systems."
Power cables made with AMSC's HTS
wire can conduct up to 10 times the amount of power of conventional
cables, which are made with copper wire. They can be placed
strategically in the power grid to draw flow from overtaxed conventional
cables or overhead lines to mitigate grid congestion experienced in
urban centers. They also automatically suppress dangerous power surges
to create resilient, ˜self-healing' Smart
Grids that can survive attacks and natural disasters, making them an
ideal modernization tool for metropolitan power grids.
"LS Cable is widely recognized as one of the world's most respected
power cable manufacturers and innovators," said Dan McGahn, senior vice
president and general manager of AMSC Superconductors. "This strategic
agreement sends a powerful message about LS Cable's near-term plans for
building the superconductor power cable market.
