Silver News

The General Electric Company has awarded American Superconductor Corp., Westborough, Massachusetts, a contract as the primary supplier of high temperature superconductor wire (HTS) for the world’s first 100 megawatt HTS generator. The entire HTSD project, valued at $26 million, is one of seven recently-announced projects that are part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Superconductivity Initiative program.

The generator will use 40 kilometers of HTS wire, consuming more than 1,000 ounces of silver. AmSuper’s wire plant is the first such commercial facility in the world and is expected to use 4 to 5 million ounces annually of silver to produce 20,000 km of HTS wire, or about 250 ounces per kilometer of wire, according to Vice President Jeff Nestel-Patt. The wire facility will be in full operation by early 2002.

The superconducting wire market may consume 50 million ounces of silver or more every year, within the next decade.

General Electric officials believe that the proposed HTS generator will provide a breakthrough in high efficiency generators creating the potential to save billions of kilowatt hours annually and millions of dollars in energy savings, reduced emissions and increased competitiveness of U.S. utilities in global markets. Superconducting power equipment typically will be half the size and have half the energy losses compared to conventional equipment.

"Utility generators, industrial ship propulsion motors, and power cables represent a huge market opportunity for our HTS wires," says Greg Yurek, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Superconductor. "The demand for HTS wires for utility generators alone could exceed the annual capacity of our new HTS wire manufacturing plant, the first commercial HTS wire manufacturing plant in the world."

Superconductivity allows certain materials, such as ceramics, to carry large electrical current without the losses of conventional materials such as copper. Silver sheathing provides a protective and inert barrier for the ceramic and represents about the half of an average electrical cable’s weight. Superconducting power equipment typically will be half the size and have half the energy losses compared to conventional equipment.

Silver News - December 2001 / January 2002