Superconducting wires in commercial power grids

I was browsing Slashdot this morning when a post headlined Superconducting Power Grid Launches in New York caught my eye. Growing up a nerd, I was fascinated by superconductors. They were the coolest thing, literally, since you could only achieve superconductivity (conducting electricity without any resistance) at very low temperatures – typically 250 degrees below zero. In the late 80’s, the field of superconductivity was abuzz with the discovery of high temperature superconductors. An American research team had concocted a new ceramic material that could achieve superconductivity at 92K (-181C), a temperature higher than liquid nitrogen, a commonly used coolant that is reasonably economical. That discovery spurred hopes of manufacturing commercial superconductors one day that could transmit electricity with very little loss (~ 7% of the power is lost during transmission in conventional power grids).

After that major discovery, for the last 20 years or so, superconductors pretty much disappeared from mainstream attention. But with this announcement by American Superconductor and Long Island Power Authority, commercial superconductor power grids are finally here! And we will be hearing a lot about them in the coming months.