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A small wire that will lead to big deals
By Guan Wenfei and Hu Xiaocen |
September 25, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AN inconspicuous looking electric wire may break the monopoly from outside China and lead to a 100 billion yuan (US$15.75 billion) industrial chain.
The superconducting wire will save billions of yuan in the power transmission as it has 150 times the carrying capacity of the traditional copper wire of the same section.
Cai Chuanbin, director of Superconduction and Application Technology Research Center at Shanghai University, is in charge of the project.
He said copper cables requires at least 500,000 volts to transfer a certain amount of electricity from power stations in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to Shanghai in China's coastal east, while the superconducting cable only needs 220 volts owing to its resistance-free functions.
If cables made of this wire are used in the national grid, the annual power loss from transmission can be reduced by more than 300 billion kilowatt hours, equivalent to 4 1/2 times of the amount of power generated annually by the Three Gorges Power Station.
Previously, the wire was manufactured in some other cities and regions. But production relied on imported equipment.
He said Shanghai has some advantages in the research of second-generation high-temperature superconducting tapes in China.
But taking the step from the "ivory tower" to the market requires persistence and determination.
Shanghai University has launched a company for the project and the second-generation of the high-temperature superconducting tapes will soon be industrialized.
According to the plan, by the end of next year, the new company will have annual production capacity of 400 kilometers of superconducting wire. It plans to increase this to 5,000 kilometers in the future.
The district's science and technology commission is actively working with venture capital funds and other channels to help fund the project.
The superconducting wire will save billions of yuan in the power transmission as it has 150 times the carrying capacity of the traditional copper wire of the same section.
Cai Chuanbin, director of Superconduction and Application Technology Research Center at Shanghai University, is in charge of the project.
He said copper cables requires at least 500,000 volts to transfer a certain amount of electricity from power stations in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to Shanghai in China's coastal east, while the superconducting cable only needs 220 volts owing to its resistance-free functions.
If cables made of this wire are used in the national grid, the annual power loss from transmission can be reduced by more than 300 billion kilowatt hours, equivalent to 4 1/2 times of the amount of power generated annually by the Three Gorges Power Station.
Previously, the wire was manufactured in some other cities and regions. But production relied on imported equipment.
He said Shanghai has some advantages in the research of second-generation high-temperature superconducting tapes in China.
But taking the step from the "ivory tower" to the market requires persistence and determination.
Shanghai University has launched a company for the project and the second-generation of the high-temperature superconducting tapes will soon be industrialized.
According to the plan, by the end of next year, the new company will have annual production capacity of 400 kilometers of superconducting wire. It plans to increase this to 5,000 kilometers in the future.
The district's science and technology commission is actively working with venture capital funds and other channels to help fund the project.
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