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Superconducting Power Lines Are Coming to New York City Soon

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – A high-tech power cable designed to prevent rolling blackouts caused by everything from a wayward squirrel to terrorists is being readied for New York City’s financial district.

Now undergoing final tests at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the superconductor cable to be installed in Manhattan next year could prove key to the smart, secure, super grid of the future.

10 times more power than copper
Chilled by liquid nitrogen to minus-321 degrees Fahrenheit, this cable becomes super-efficient when cool, carrying up to 10 times more electricity than a copper cable of the same diameter. It also has a unique, built-in surge suppressing capability.

Likened to fiber optic revolution
“The superconductors offer the promise that they can take much more electricity through a much smaller cable,” he said. “If it works, it truly is what fiber optics did for telecommunications.”

American Superconductor CEO Greg Yurek said there have been 15-20 superconductor cable projects of various kinds built around the world since 1997. Project Hydra will be the first with “fault limiter” capability to suppress surges — a kind of firewall for the grid.

“Our sense is we are kind of at the tipping point now, once we are in Manhattan,” Yurek said. “The eyes of the utility world are actually viewing this with great interest.”