American Superconductor: Second Generation Superconductor Wire—From Research to Power Grid Applications

American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) is the leader the development, manufacturing and deployment of high temperature superconducting (HTS) wire. The company’s HTS wire, called Amperium HTS wire, is the result of decades of a research and development effort on texturing of metals, epitaxial growth of complex oxides and innovative roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques. AMSC is also a leader in developing HTS wire based products that are being deployed in the power grid around the world. In this chapter we provide an overview of the high temperature superconducting materials, describe the challenges overcome in converting these materials into useful wires and summarize the major markets for the Amperium wire.