LS

Photo 1. On November 5, LS Cable & System and KEPCO commercialized superconductive cables for the first time in the world and held a completion ceremony where President & CEO Roe-hyun Myung (5th from left) and President Jong-gap Kim (6th from left) attended.

■ LS C & S commercializes superconductive cable with ‘0’ electric resistance

■ 5-10 times power transmission, 1/20civil engineering cost

■ Substation area decreased by 1/10, power shortage in urban areas resolved

 LS C & S (President & CEO Roe-hyun Myung) in partnership with KEPCO commercialized superconductive cables for the first time in the world.

 Superconductive cables were installed in the 1km section starting from Heungdeok Substation and Shingal Substation, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, and started commercial operation today. Superconductive cables are produced by a total of five companies, including LS C & S, in the world (in Europe, Japan and the U.S.), however, Korea was the first country to succeed at commercialization.

 Superconductive cables can transmit 5 to 10 times as much power compared to existing copper cables with low voltage. As the technology applies superconductivity whereby electric resistance vanishes at -196°C there is hardly any electricity loss during transmission.

 This means that one strand of superconductive cable can replace ten strands of copper cable, so installation space can be dramatically reduced. In the case of new cities, power conduits that are 3m in height can be replaced with ducts that are only about 1m in height reducing civil engineering costs by 1/20.

 The company expects that the cost gap with existing copper cables will be further increased as the distribution of superconductive cables expand and cause production costs to drop.

 Furthermore, superconductive cables can be effectively utilized in urban areas where power consumption is increasing rapidly. Even by using the existing facilities such as power conduit pipes and ducts as they are and just replacing existing copper cables with superconductive cables, power supply can be dramatically increased.

 Korea started developing superconductive cables starting in the early 2000s and closed the 30-year gap with advanced companies within less than 20 years. The industry forecasts that commercialization will expand the market rapidly, exceeding one trillion won by 2023.

 LS C & S President & CEO Roe-hyun Myung said, “The commercialization of superconductive cables will change the paradigm of the power industry so that Korea will take market leadership from European and Japanese companies. We plan to aggressively target overseas markets in partnership with KEPCO.”

In 2004, LS C & S was the fourth company to succeed in developing superconductive cables in the world. In 2015, it was the world’s first to complete the demonstration of direct current 80kV superconductive cables, making it the only company in the world to possess both direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) superconductive technology in the world. The company also succeeded in developing superconductive cables with the largest capacity and longest length in the world.


Photo 2. LS C& S employees are inspecting superconductive cables.



Photo 3. LS C & S superconductive cables