Government Lab Tests 'super' Power Cables For NYC

Chilled by liquid nitrogen to minus-321 degrees Fahrenheit, this cable becomes super-efficient when cool, carrying up to 10 times more electricity than a copper cable of the same diameter. It also has a unique, built-in surge suppressing capability.

"Nothing is attack proof," Murphy said. But this cable could be a cornerstone of what he calls "resilient reinforcing microgrids."

Power distribution now follows a hub-and-spoke design. That means the failure of a single power station can put a cluster of neighborhoods in the dark. This latest superconductor cable promises to link power stations so they can operate "more like an Internet" and back each other up.

Homeland Security calls the Oak Ridge-Manhattan experiment "Project Hydra," recalling the many-headed beast of Greek mythology that grew two heads for every one cut off.

The $39 million project will lay superconductor cable linking two large Consolidated Edison Corp. substations about 1,000 feet apart serving thousands of people on Manhattan's west side. For security reasons, the stations have not been publicly identified.

The Oak Ridge lab, a Department of Energy facility, has been conducting basic research on superconducting wire for two decades. Since 2000, American Superconductor Corp. of Devens, Mass., has been working to refine and commercialize that research under a licensing partnership.