In one of the first real-world applications of high-temperature superconductors, Superconductivity Inc of Madison, Wisconsin has developed an electricity storage system consisting of a tank of liquid Helium in which a coil of superconducting ceramic wire is immersed, the Wall Street Journal reports: the system is designed to supply supplementary power to keep power levels constant when mains Voltage dips; prices start at $700,000 and the company plans to start shipments in a few months; another company, Illinois Superconductor Corp, Evanston, Illinois, is applying superconductivity to the problem of tranisent power surges – in its system, the application depends on the fact that resistivity shoots up when high Voltages pass through the wire, and surges can be blocked in less than a microsecond, which should be fast enough to prevent damage to sensitive electronics.
