Electricity demand is rapidly increasing worldwide, and thousands of renewable energy projects at various stages of development to meet this need must connect to power grids. Transmission capacity must be expanded to accommodate these resources and to help nations attain decarbonization goals. Prospects for integrating these projects into national grids appear bright with the advent of high-power transmission infrastructure engineered by Massachusetts-based VEIR.

The startup recently installed its first high-power superconducting AC line, using standard utility poles, in Woburn, Massachusetts. Designed to transport five to 10 times the amount of power of conventional transmission lines, the new system incorporates superconducting cables and a proprietary cooling system that will enable initial transmission capacity up to 400 MW. Passive cooling is accomplished with nitrogen transmitted through a vacuum-insulated pipe that surrounds a superconducting cable. Heat exchange units are also used on some transmission towers.

“We can deploy much higher power levels at much lower voltage, and so we can deploy the same high power but with a footprint and visual impact that is far less intrusive, and therefore can overcome a lot of the public opposition as well as siting and permitting barriers,” said VEIR founder Tim Heidel.

The company intends to primarily focus on the U.S. market, scale to voltages of several gigawatts and to construct DC lines.