Monday, May 2, 2005

Energy

American Superconductor gets HTS wire order for Ohio project

American Superconductor Corp. it has received an order for 48,760 meters - approximately 30 miles - of high-temperature superconductor (HTS) wire from Georgia-based Ultera for a large substation in Columbus, Ohio.

The wire will be used to manufacture a 200-meter HTS power cable to serve the electrical distribution load fed from the substation. The cable will be operated starting in mid-2006 by American Electric Power.

The U.S. Department of Energy is providing half of the $8.65 million of funding for this cable demonstration project. When complete in the summer of 2006, the HTS cable is expected to supply power to approximately 8,200 residential and industrial AEP customers. The new cable would replace existing overhead aluminum bus in the 13-kilovolt portion of the substation.

Ultera is a joint venture between of Southwire Co. in Carrollton, Ga., and NKT Cables in Cologne, Germany.

American Superconductor stock was trading at press time at $8.96, up 14 cents from its close yesterday.