American Superconductor's New York grid work moves forward

After its DHS contract to install power grid improvements in Manhattan was reviewed by congressional investigators, Devens, Massachusetts-based American Superconductor said yesterday it signed the pact again and is on schedule to finish the project in 2010. American Superconductor received the DHS contract for Project HYDRA (see the May 2007 Daily Wire report), which calls for the development and installation of the company’s Secure Super Grids technology in the power delivery network in Manhattan operated by Consolidated Edison of New York.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette’s Martin Luttrell writes that the American Superconductor contract is to develop and install new electrical power-grid technology in New York City which would enable Con Edison better to handle power surges and interruptions caused by accidents, weather or terrorist attacks. “This contract provides us with the resources necessary to fund this important project in Manhattan,” CEO Gregory Yurek said in a statement. The initial no-bid contract, awarded by DHS in May 2007, called for the government agency to pay as much as $25 million of the project’s estimated $39 million cost. In August a probe was launched by the U.S. House of Representative’s Committee on Energy and Commerce. American Superconductor and Con Edison provided documents related to the contract to investigators. Officials from both companies said the investigation was looking into the contract, and not the companies. Lawyers for American Superconductor also met with lawyers for the committee, the company said at the time. During a conference call with investors in August, Yurek described the probe as an intergovernmental squabble, and that the company followed the appropriate protocols.

Under the terms of the final contract, DHS will provide up to $25 million in total funding for the $39 million project, identical to the original contract awarded to American Superconductor, said Jason Fredette, spokesman for the company. He said company officials have not heard anything about the congressional investigation for months. “I don’t know the status of that (investigation). It’s in the committee’s hands,” he said. “The fact that we signed an official contract should give everyone assurance that we will complete the project by 2010, and we’re looking forward to it.”

Meanwhile, DHS has provided approximately $3.8 million of the total to date while American Superconductor, Con Edison, and subcontractor Southwire Co. have been working on the project for the past eight months under an agreement with DHS. Con Edison spokesman Chris Olert said the project is moving forward, with American Superconductor’s cables to be installed in 2010. “It’s a couple of years away before we put any cables in the ground,” he said. American Superconductor’s high-temperature 344 superconductor power cables and controls can deliver up to 10 times more power through the grid than conventional wire, while at the same time suppressing power surges — or fault currents — that can disrupt service, the company said. The full-scale, 300-meter-long HTS power cable system will connect two of Con Edison’s Manhattan substations. The system will require approximately 93 miles of American Superconductor’s 344 superconductor cable (read this Daily Wire report on the HTS — for high temperature superconductor — cable which is capable of suppressing power surges and helping make power grids more resilient).