SuperPower Inc., a Schenectady, New York, subsidiary of Netherlands-based Philips,will share in $3.1 million awarded to the University of Houston, Texas, to develop prototypes for lower cost, higher efficiency superconducting wire for wind turbines.
The grant, through the US Department of Energy, will be used to further develop superconductive wire and develop a manufacturing process that would make the wire less expensive than the wire currently used in wind generation.
Trudy Lehner, SuperPower spokeswoman, said the grant will allow the company to maintain its current staff of 65, and possibly hire a few more people.
SuperPower develops superconducting wire technology for electric utilities. The technology company has been working with the University at Houston since the company’s five-person research and development unit began working out of the university in 2009. The two have partnered in several other projects.
SuperPower’s chief technology adviser, Venkat “Selva” Selvamanickam, is director of the university’s Texas Center for Superconductivity.
Funding for the research came from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy.
