SuperPower, Inc., in partnership with The BOC Group, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. and Niagara Mohawk, a National Grid Company, intends to design and manufacture an underground, high-temperature superconducting (HTS) power cable between two Niagara Mohawk substations in Albany, New York. The groundbreaking celebration for the project will be June 28 at 3:00 PM. The project will take four years and will cost a total of US$26 million. The U.S. Department of Energy is supplying $13 million of that, while the York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) will provide $6 million.

The HTS cable is a 34.5-kV, 800-A, 48-MVA flexible, underground, 350 m long cable with cable-to-cable joint. It features three phases in one cryostat and a cold dielectric design. The self-contained commercially viable Cryogenic Refrigeration System exceeds utility reliability standards. A 30-m section will be replaced with second-generation YBCO in 2006.

According to SuperPower, this project is 3.5 times the length of any previously installed HTS cable. The nstallation will be in a standard utility underground right-of-way (other installations have been within an industrial site or a substation). It addresses future commercialization by including a 30-m YBCO cable section with potential for improved price/performance characteristics.