Partners in the Bixby project

Southwire - cable design, manufacturing, termination design, installation, cryo system design, systems integration, O&M, project management

Carrollton, Ga.-based Southwire is one of the world's largest cable and wire manufacturers. Southwire makes building wire and cable, utility cable products, industrial power cable, copper and aluminum rods, and cord products. The company also provides engineering and machining and fabrication services. Southwire also supplies wire and cable to 135 of the nation's top power companies, plus dozens of utility companies abroad, and is continually pioneering new technology to better serve all of its wire and cable customers. Nearly a fifth of all homes in the United States contain Southwire's building wire products.

A pioneer in HTS technologies, Southwire built a groundbreaking, 30-meter HTS cable to power three facilities at its Carrollton headquarters. That demonstration, funded under a cost-sharing arrangement with the Department of Energy's Superconductivity Program, went online in February 2000 and continues to supply power to those facilities.

The Bixby demonstration utilizes second generation Southwire cable technology to distribute electricity. This Triax cable design is more compact and utilizes less material while distributing power more efficiently with less energy loss. The Bixby substation is the only facility in the world to use the new cable design, placing Southwire and its industry partners at the leading edge in showing the commercial viability of superconductivity to address the nation's energy needs.

Westborough, Mass.-based American Superconductor Corporation is the world's principal vendor of high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire and large rotating superconductor machinery, and it is a world- leading supplier of dynamic reactive power grid stabilization products. AMSC's HTS wire and power electronic converters are at the core of a broad range of new electricity transmission and distribution, transportation, medical and industrial processing applications, including dynamic reactive power grid stabilization solutions, large ship propulsion motors and generators, smart, controllable, superconductor power cables and advanced defense systems. In July, the company announced it had achieved commercial levels of electric current for the first time in long lengths of second generation HTS wire, marking the first time commercial levels of electrical current had been successfully achieved in lengths over 300 feet by a low cost industrial process. AMSC's stock is traded publicly on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol "AMSC."

Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation's largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP's utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). American Electric Power is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2006. AEP stock is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "AEP."

nkt cables develops, manufactures and markets low, medium and high voltage cables and accessories, overhead lines with integrated optical fibers, PVC- and halogen-free cables as well as flexible cords, rubber insulated cables, communication and accessories as well as contact wire for catenary systems. It is based in Cologne, Germany, with manufacturing facilities in Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland and China.

In 2002, Southwire and nkt formed a joint venture called Ultera to develop high temperature superconducting cable technology that had been initiated by both companies.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the Department of Energy's largest science and energy laboratory. Opened in 1943 as part of the Manhattan project to pioneer the production of plutonium, the lab has been managed since April 2000 by a partnership of the University of Tennessee and Battelle.

ORNL's mission is to conduct basic and applied research that provides innovative solutions to complex problems in six fields: energy, neutron science, high-performance computing, systems biology, materials science at the nanoscale, and national security. With an annual budget exceeding $1 billion, ORNL has a staff of more than 4,000 and annually hosts 3,000 guest researchers who spend at least two weeks in Oak Ridge.

Two years after the 1986 discovery of high temperature superconductivity, ORNL initiated research into the technology. Its High-Temperature Superconductivity Technology Center has blended materials research and wire development through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) with industry.

Danbury, Conn.-based Praxair, Inc. is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, with 2005 sales of $7.7 billion. The company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric and process gases, and high-performance surface coatings. Praxair products, services and technologies bring productivity and environmental benefits to a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and others. Praxair introduced commercial cryogenic air separation technology to North America in the early 1900s, and, ever since, the company has led the development of new air separation, process and application technologies. The company currently holds almost 3,000 patents. Praxair stock is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "PX."

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