LS deploys world’s first ‘superconducting cable’

LS Cable & System (C&S) has commercialized highly efficient and eco-friendly superconducting power cables for the first time in the industry, the cable making arm of LS Group said Tuesday.

The company said it successfully installed superconducting cables, stretching one kilometer, between electricity substations in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, with the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO).

Superconducting cables can transport five to 10 times more power than conventional copper cables with almost no loss.

Companies in the United States, Europe and Japan have developed the technology, but have struggled to commercialize it because the superconducting cable has to be inside insulated tubes with a temperature of minus 196 degree Celsius.

“With the commercialization of the superconducting cable, Korea is now capable of making a paradigm shift in the electricity industry, which has been led by companies in Europe and Japan,” LS C&S CEO Myung Roe-hyun said. “In cooperation with KEPCO, LS C&S also plans a foray into the global superconducting market.”

The market is expected to increase because the cables don’t require transformers, enabling power suppliers to reduce the size of substations.

The company said this will also contribute to resolving social issues such as the “Nimby” or “not in my backyard” attitude of residents who oppose electricity substations near their homes due to property value depreciation.

LS C&S developed superconducting cable-manufacturing technology in 2004. It also developed 80-kilovolt direct-current superconducting cables in 2013.

Courtesy of LS C&S LS C&S CEO Myung Roe-hyun, third from left, cuts a ribbon with other guests, including Kim Jongkap, fourth from left, CEO of Korea Electric Power Corp., during a ceremony commemorating the installation of a superconducting power cable at an electricity substation in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday.