by AF 0923a5 — September 25, 2009—Zenergy Power, the superconductor energy technology company, has formed an agreement with American Electric Power (AEP) to become the first utility company to install and operate a transmission-voltage Fault Current Limiter (FCL) on the U.S. electricity grid, says the company.
AEP owns the largest electricity transmission system in the U.S., comprising nearly 39,000 miles of transmission lines, and is one of the country’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity, according to the announcement. The FCL is expected to be installed at the 138-kilovolt Tidd substation near Steubenville, Ohio, in late 2011.
Zenergy Power’s FCL is a newly developed and proprietary smart grid device that helps suppress the excess energy associated with fault currents, thus protecting essential large-scale grid equipment, including cables, transformers, capacitor banks and switchgear.
Accordingly, Zenergy Power’s FCL not only increases the reliability of the electricity supply but also mitigates significant capital expenditure by minimizing the incidence of electrical damage to grid equipment. In addition, it is anticipated that the use of FCLs in certain grid locations could defer the need to upgrade substation infrastructure which, depending on individual circumstances, can cost up to tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.
Prior to entering into this agreement, AEP conducted a thorough evaluation of the FCL business case with respect to its own grid requirements.
The construction and installation of the high-voltage device will be partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as part of Zenergy Power’s ongoing $11 million project initially announced on June 29, 2007.
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