Intermagnetics General Corporation subsidiary SuperPower today reported
world-record performance in producing second-generation high-temperature
superconducting wire at its pilot manufacturing facility in Schenectady, New
York. The 6,000 amp-meter performance in a 57-meter HTS wire is 60 percent
greater than the previous record announced by a Japanese company last year.
"This is a significant milestone toward our goal of demonstrating a
manufacturing process capable of cost-effectively producing high-temperature
superconductors that would be commercially viable for utility industry
applications, as well as for government and military uses," said Glenn H.
Epstein, chairman and chief executive officer of Intermagnetics. "Our
near-term objective remains to consistently reproduce and improve upon this
performance in order to position SuperPower as a global leader in commercial
production of second-generation HTS wire and applied devices.
"Intermagnetics envisions large-scale adoption of this technology
by the world's electric transmission and distribution systems, which have
demonstrated substantial and well-publicized shortcomings in the past
year," Epstein said. "In addition, we believe this technology will
meet the needs of national security through military applications that require
the higher power density and lighter weight associated with HTS
technology."
Philip J. Pellegrino, president of SuperPower, added: "The
importance of our latest accomplishment is that it validates our strategy of
focusing on second-generation HTS materials as a 'foundation cornerstone' of
our plans to provide both the enabling materials and the highly engineered
devices that will serve the markets for HTS in the future. SuperPower has now
clearly demonstrated global leadership in the performance of its wire and in
the development of manufacturing processes characterized by high throughput,
low capital expenditures, modularity and scalability. This is absolutely
critical to the ultimate success of our technology in commercial applications."
Pellegrino noted that the most recent SuperPower wire performance is
three times greater than the 2,000 amp-meters reported by SuperPower in July
2003. At that time, SuperPower's second-generation HTS program was awarded the
#1 ranking among 14 industry and national laboratory participants by an
independent panel of reviewers at the Department of Energy Peer Review.
"Amp-meter" is a common measure of HTS wire performance achieved by
multiplying the current carrying capacity of the wire in amperes by the length
of the wire in meters.
"We are leap-frogging our own performance -- and at an astounding
pace," Pellegrino added. "Our latest achievement occurred just three
years after the installation of pilot-scale facilities at SuperPower and just
two years after demonstrating continuous reel-to-reel processing in those
facilities. Up until now, Japan and Germany have led the global development of
second-generation HTS wire, primarily because of their head start in the early
1990s.
"We expect to achieve commercially viable production capabilities
during 2005 that will firmly place SuperPower in a leading position --
worldwide -- utilizing patent-protected technology and manufacturing processes
that will allow us to economically adjust to the ultimate needs of the
market," Pellegrino said. "We continue to expect that compelling
market conditions will lead to a revolution in the way electricity is
generated, delivered and consumed through an environmentally friendly
reinforcement and upgrade of the aging, capacity-constrained power grid.
Additional uses are likely to be in the area of military applications such as
directed energy weapons using high-power microwaves and pulsed lasers,
all-electric warships and hypersonic airborne applications, as well as naval
operations involving aircraft launch and mine-sweeping."
Jimmy Glotfelty, the director of DOE's Office of Electric Transmission
and Distribution said, "This latest in a series of achievements by
SuperPower validates DOE's decade-long investment on behalf of the taxpayer in
HTS technology. We must maintain this momentum to enable manufacturing scale-up
and commercialization.
"SuperPower collaborates with Los Alamos National Laboratory in
developing the core technology that has enabled these performance achievements,"
Glotfelty said. "I am especially proud of the fact that it now appears to
be within the grasp of an American company to lead the introduction of this
revolutionary technology at the global level. The timing is superb in the wake
of the worst blackout in U.S. history last summer, which is symptomatic of the
undisputed need to invest more in our critical transmission and distribution
infrastructure."
Intermagnetics (http://www.intermagnetics.com/) draws on the financial
strength, operational excellence and technical leadership in its expanding
business of Medical Technology that encompasses Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Systems and Components and Patient Monitoring. Intermagnetics is also a key
supplier to the markets within Instrumentation and has become a prominent
participant in superconducting applications for Energy Technology. The company
has a more than 30-year history as a successful developer, manufacturer and
marketer of superconducting materials, high-field magnets, medical systems and components
and other specialized high value-added devices.
Safe Harbor Statement: The statements contained in this press release
that are not historical fact are "forward-looking statements" which
involve various important assumptions, risks, uncertainties and other factors.
These include, without limitation, the assumptions, risks, and uncertainties
set forth here as well as in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K,
including but not limited to, the company's ability to: (1) attract and
maintain strategic partners for its HTS initiatives; (2) invest sufficient
resources and receive additional external funding to continue its development
efforts; (3) attract and retain the personnel necessary to achieve its
objectives; (4) attain commercial acceptance for and adoption of its products
and technology; (5) successfully develop commercially viable production
methods, and successfully improve those methods to meet the cost-benefit ratio
that will be critical to making HTS technology commercially competitive; and
(6) avoid the potential adverse impact on the company of emerging patents in
the highly competitive energy technology field. Except for the company's
continuing obligation to disclose material information under federal securities
law, the company is not obligated to update its forward-looking statements even
though situations may change in the future. The company qualifies all of its
forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.
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