Superconducting wire could solve some grid growth problems
October 25, 2010 by Paul Dvorak
Filed under Materials, Wind Power News, Wind Watch
Amperium wire is a second generation high temperature superconductor. Ribbon-shaped wire is typically only 400 microns thick. It comprises a core of the material clad with thin strips of metal such as copper or stainless steel.
Amperium wire is a second generation high-temperature superconductor wire. Previously called “344 superconductors,” the new name is intended to reflect the product’s ability to conduct more than 100 times the electrical current of copper wire of the same dimensions. For perspective, in high-voltage power transmission systems, just one of these ultra-thin wires can carry enough power to serve the needs of about 10,000 U.S. homes. The high power density of the wire significantly reduces the footprint and cost of large-scale electrical equipment, such as power cables and wind generators. Applications for Amperium wire include power transmission and distribution cables, fault current limiters, ship propulsion motors and generators, wind turbine generators and degaussing systems for naval ships.
Korea Electric Power Co., the country’s only power grid operator, has forecasted wide deployment of superconductor power cables in the Korean grid starting in the 2012-2013 timeframe. LS Cable Ltd. of Korea already uses Amperium wire to manufacture the first power cable system for Korea’s commercial grid, which is scheduled in late 2010.
In the U.S., Amperium wire is being used by power-cable manufacturer Nexans, to produce an extension of the superconductor power transmission cable system that has been running in Long Island Power Authority’s primary power corridor since April 2008. Additional cable projects are expected to use Amperium wire include the Tres Amigas SuperStation, which aims to connect America’s three power grids for the first time ever to unlock the country’s renewable energy resources.
Other applications include FaultBlocker surge-suppressing power cables and fault current limiters for city grids, electric generators for AMSC’s SeaTitan superconductor wind turbines, large electric motors, and U.S. Navy degaussing systems.
The wire is manufactured using a proprietary process at AMSC’s headquarters in Devens, Massachusetts – the world’s largest commercial-scale HTS wire manufacturing facility. The process involves coating 40-mm wide metallic strips that are slit into ribbon-shaped wires of varying widths, depending on the end-use application, and then laminated with thin strips of metal to tailor mechanical and non-superconductor electrical properties. Amperium wire for use in power cables is, for example, typically 4.4-mm wide while wire for use in generators and motors is typically 12-mm wide. AMSC has begun to migrate its manufacturing process to 100-millimeter-wide starting strips, which will significantly increase its existing manufacturing capacity while also significantly reducing manufacturing costs.
American Superconductor
amsc.com/products/amperiumwire.
American company buys stake in U.K. blade maker
September 1, 2010 by Paul Dvorak
Filed under Materials, Turbine Blades, Wind Power News
American Superconductor Corp. says it has acquired a 25% ownership ($8 million) in Blade Dynamics Ltd., a designer and manufacturer of advanced wind turbine blades based on proprietary materials and structural technologies. Founded in the United Kingdom in 2007, Blade Dynamics designs and develops wind turbine blades to increase the efficiency and performance of multi-megawatt wind turbines while also reducing costs. The Venture Capital group of Dow Chemical Co. also made a minority equity investment in the blade manufacturer.
American Superconductor Corp. is developing a 10-MW offshore turbine in Germany with partner Windtec. Plans are now that it will use blades designed and developed by Blade Dynamics.
Today’s 2-MW wind turbines require rotors with more than a 70-m (230 ft) diameter, and 5-MW turbines require rotors at least 120 m (360 ft) in diameter. Rotor diameter determines the swept area of a wind turbine’s blades. Ideally, wind turbines would be equipped with even larger-diameter rotors to maximize power output. But cost, weight, and transportation factors have limited the size of rotors, outweighing performance and efficiency benefits.
“Blade Dynamics has developed unique and proprietary structural designs and manufacturing methods aimed at overcoming critical barriers facing today’s wind industry,” says Blade Dynamics founder and CEO Paul Rudling. “Using advanced manufacturing processes, innovative structural designs, proven composite materials, and an advanced surface coating called Bladeskyn, our wind-turbine blades provide compelling performance and efficiency advantages for wind turbine manufacturers. Our company will use American Superconductor’s (AMSC’s) unique wind-turbine-design capabilities and business model as well as Dow’s composite materials to capitalize on the opportunities in front of us.”
“Design and manufacturing for wind turbine blades have remained fundamentally unchanged for 20 years,” says AMSC founder and CEO Greg Yurek. “Today, however, the market is migrating to higher power ratings for wind turbines. Onshore turbines exceed 2 MW in many locations, and offshore wind farm developers increasingly seek wind turbines with power ratings exceeding 5 MW. Blade Dynamics presents us – and the entire wind industry – with a wind-turbine-blade technology that enhances performance, and reduces weight and cost for high power wind turbines. We view this as a good investment and expect many wind turbine manufacturers, including our own AMSC Windtec licensees, to quickly migrate to the Blade Dynamics solution to avail themselves of these advantages. In fact, AMSC Windtec and Blade Dynamics engineers have already been working in close collaboration to improve blades for AMSC Windtec turbine designs.”
In addition to providing AMSC Windtec licensees with differentiated blades, the company expects its investment could expand the company’s sales opportunities with other wind turbine manufacturers around the world. The company also says that Blade Dynamics will provide blades for the company’s 10-MW SeaTitan superconductor wind turbines.
Encouraging the blade manufacturer to move close to the U.S. market, Louisiana Economic Development (LED) says it is providing an incentive package to help the U.K. firm establish and operate a manufacturing facility in New Orleans. This incentive package, worth up to $30 million, hinges on the company meeting certain capital investment and job creation milestones. Located at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, the Blade Dynamics operation is expected to add at least 600 direct new jobs to the local economy over the next decade. Through Louisiana’s FastStart, LED will also provide workforce support including assistance with employee recruitment, screening, training development, and training delivery, for up to two years during the company’s employment ramp-up.
The Michoud Assembly Facility, an 832-acre site owned by NASA, is one of the largest manufacturing campuses in the world. NASA and Lockheed Martin have used this site for the construction of the Space Shuttle’s external fuel tanks for more than 30 years. Michoud is now a multi-tenant complex for other government agencies, government contractors, and commercial businesses, in addition to its core NASA work. In addition to its presence in New Orleans, Blade Dynamics plans to expand its operations in the U.K. as part of a long-term commitment to Europe’s offshore wind market.
American Superconductor Corp.
Blade Dynamics
Electrical equipment firm assists with 5-MW turbine
June 9, 2010 by Kathleen Zipp
Filed under Electrical Systems
PM3000W
American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) and Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. (HHI) will jointly develop a 5 MW full-conversion turbine for use in the offshore wind industry. The companies expect production to commence by end of 2011.
HHI already has begun volume production of 1.65 MW turbines and ordered almost 80 sets of electrical controls and power components from AMSC. HHI also ordered electrical controls for the initial 10 units of its 2-MW turbines, which the company plans to comission by June 12, 2010 and enter production by year end. Under the terms of the new development contract, HHI will have the ability to market, manufacture, and sell 5-MW wind turbines globally.
AMSC’s electrical-control systems and components for wind turbines include the company’s PowerModule, pitch, and yaw converters, as well as SCADA systems. The converters control power flow, regulate voltage, monitor system performance, and control the blade pitch and yaw.
American Superconductor Corporation amsc.com
Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. english.hhi.co.kr
Programmable-power converters now modular
June 3, 2010 by KRemington
Filed under Wind Power News
The PowerModule PM3000W is a programmable, flexible and modular power converter platform for use across multiple wind-energy applications.
The PowerModule line of power converters contain advanced Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT) and can operate in series or parallel for higher power ratings. The PM3000W features advanced grid compatibility control and a compact package that yields a high power density, up to 130 W/in.³ (7.9 W/cm³). Furthermore, the double conversion architecture includes a common laminated dc bus with dynamic control, IGBTs, control algorithms and liquid cooling. Additionally, OEM proprietary algorithms can reside in one, or two, of the DSPs.
American Superconductor
Amsc.com
A second U.S. firm plans 10 MW turbine
May 13, 2010 by Paul Dvorak
Filed under Wind Watch
The planned 10 MW Seatitan will come from American Superconductor by way of its European firm.
The cover story of the May 2010 Windpower Engineering provides some details for the Clipper Britannia, a 10 MW turbine the Carpinteria, Calif. company expects to launch about 2012. On the heels of that announcement comes news from a Mass.-based company, American Superconductor, and their plans for a 10 MW turbine. The company joins at least one other (A Danish firm, for a total of three) that has announced plans for a 10 MW design. From the AS website:
The offshore wind power market is entering a period of rapid and prolonged growth. The European Wind Energy Association expects that Europe alone will increase its amount of offshore wind power from less than 2 GW at the end of 2009 to more than 150 GW by 2030.
Since subsea structures and installation services can account for most offshore wind farm costs, developers are seeking to maximize their “power per tower” to get a more rapid return on investment. With the ability to produce 10 MW of power or more, the SeaTitan is expected to be one of the world’s most powerful wind turbine. This wind turbine is being developed by AMSC Windtec. Since its founding in 1995, AMSC Windtec GmbH has become involved in developing complete electrical and mechanical systems for wind turbines. The German firm is a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Superconductor (AMSC) and is part of the Power Systems business
Each SeaTitan will contain a Titan generator. These generators use high-temperature superconductor (HTS) rotors rather than copper, which allows making them smaller, lighter, more efficient, and less expensive than conventional large-scale wind turbine generators. In addition, because Titan generators are direct drive, there is no need for a gearbox, which tends to be the most maintenance intensive wind turbine component.
AMSC expects to license SeaTitan wind turbines and Titan generators to multiple manufacturers around the world.
