Fresh on the heels of landing a key U.S. contract for its superconductor fault current limiter device, Zenergy Power (AIM: ZEN) has raised £9.5 million ($13.8 million) to help it compete for American smart grid stimulus funding.
Specifically, the London-based company is looking to use the funding from new and existing investors to get its superconductor equipment into stimulus-funded projects, according to a Friday briefing from CEO Jens Mueller.
Superconductors — materials that can carry far more electricity than traditional copper wires — are being used in a number of new ways for electricity grid operations, both as experiments and on a commercial scale (see Superconductors for the Grid).
One such use is as fault current limiters, or cables that can prevent current surges from damaging the grid. That's because some superconductors start resisting current when that current grows too great, making them useful both for transmitting and for stopping the flow of electricity.
Earlier this month, Zenergy announced a contract to provide a superconductor fault current limiter to Consolidated Edison, its first U.S. utility deal. That's part of the $39 million, Department of Homeland Security-funded project HYDRA, meant to help New York City's power grid withstand disruptions.
Zenergy is also working on developing the technology for California's power grid. In 2007 its San Mateo, Calif.-based subsidiary SC Power got $500,000 from the California Energy Commission and $11 million rom the Department of Energy for that purpose.
American Superconductor Corp. (NSDQ: AMSC) also has been landing superconductor grid contracts. It is supplying superconductor wire to national utility Korea Electric Power Corp., and has supplied wire for superconductor projects by American Electric Power and the Long Island Power Authority. It also got $21.7 million from DOE in 2007 to work on fault current limiter and power delivery equipment.
Both companies are looking to smart grid projects — and the $4.5 billion in federal stimulus funding set aside for matching smart grid project grants — to help them reach profitability.
Zenergy this week announced a 2008 loss of €5.3 million ($7.03 million) on revenues of €2.03 million ($2.7 million), compared to a loss of €5.2 ($6.9 million) on revenues of €268,000 ($355,000) in 2007.
And American Superconductor in February reported a loss of $17.9 million on revenues of $109.8 million for the first nine months of fiscal year 2008, compared to a $23.6 million loss on revenues of $62.5 million in the same period in 2007.
Both companies have other lines of business. American Superconductor makes most of its money from supplying designs and parts to wind turbine manufacturers (see American Superconductor: The Quiet Wind Player).
And Zenergy last year installed its first superconductor induction heating device in a manufacturing plant of an unnamed customers, and is delivering superconductor coils to utility E.On for a hydropower project in Germany.
