14 Jan 2008 07:00
Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs Monday 14 January 2008
Zenergy Power plc (`Zenergy' or the `Group') Core Patent for Low Cost 2G HTS Wire Production
Zenergy Power plc (AIM:ZEN.L), the specialist manufacturer and developer of commercial applications for high-temperature superconductive (`HTS') materials, is pleased to announce that it has been granted a core patent in relation to the low-cost industrial manufacture of 2nd Generation (`2G') HTS materials and wire in Germany. This patent is of particular significance to the Group's long-term commercial competitiveness as it protects a unique process eliminating the use of harmful fluoride compounds during the manufacture of 2G HTS materials, which delivers not only environmental benefits to the Group's processes but also significant cost savings.
Subject to a number of years of investment and development, the Group's unique process delivers cost savings to its manufacturing operations by both reducing the required amount of high cost raw materials used in the production of 2G materials, and by negating the need to carry out costly re-capturing and treatment processes associated with the release of toxic materials during processing. Both of these factors are required in alternative production processes being developed by other industry participants and the Board believe that it is testimony to the Group's technical leadership in the field of HTS that it has been successful in both the development and protection of this process. Currently, Zenergy is leading an industry drive to bring down the material cost of HTS materials to below that of copper materials. Accordingly, it is developing a ground-breaking `all-chemical' manufacturing process that for the first time enables the production of 2G wire in a continual industrial process as opposed to alternative batch processes being pursued by other industry participants.
From a commercial perspective, this patent is also of particular significance to safeguarding the long-term value of the Group's ongoing development activities with two of its commercial partners within the field of renewable energy production. To date, Zenergy has entered into two 5-year exclusive arrangements with Converteam SAS (`Converteam' - formerly Alstom Power Conversion) and ThyssenKrupp VDM GmbH for the development of a new generation of renewable power generators and their 2G HTS components respectively. It is the expectation of the Group and its partners that through this development work it will be capable of reducing the overall cost of the production of offshore wind power by around 25%.
Zenergy and its partners continue to enjoy strong development and engineering success towards this goal and remain on course to contributing to the UK Government's offshore wind power generation ambitions. As announced on 10 December 2007 by UK Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, John Hutton, it is the Government's intention to have adequate electricity generated by offshore wind farms to `power the equivalent of all of the UK's homes'. As announced on 12 November 2007, Converteam have recently enjoyed considerable design and engineering success within a UK Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (formerly the DTI) project to develop an 8MW direct-drive wind power generator based on Zenergy's HTS coils and components. The first of its type in the world, the 8MW machine will be powered by Zenergy's patented HTS materials and components resulting in considerable weight and energy efficiency advantages over conventional copper-based wind power generators. It is the Board's belief that these HTS generators can play a major role in overcoming a number of the significant engineering challenges relating to the delivery of the UK Government's targets.
Once this product has been developed and deployed it is estimated that Zenergy's addressable market for its HTS components within the wind power and hydro power markets will be worth in excess of ¢â€š¬2.6bn per annum.
Dr. Jens Mƒ¼ller, Group CEO, commented:
`This patent is of particular significance to the long-term commercial potential of HTS products as it covers a process that, when coupled with our groundbreaking `all-chemical' production techniques, will help us deliver significant cost savings to the mass-production of HTS materials and components.
It is our firm believe that these cost benefits will play a major role in the mass adoption of HTS products by national utility companies, industrial businesses and household consumers alike as they seek to gain from the significant energy savings and efficiencies delivered by unique ability of HTS materials to conduct electricity without resistance.
We have a number of ongoing development projects that continue to progresstowards commercialisation and I look forward to reporting on these throughoutthe course of this year.' -Ends- Further information:Dr. Jens Mƒ¼ller Zenergy Power Plc + 49 22 26 90 60 200 Andrew Tan Hansard Group + 44 207 245 1100 Tom Hulme Landsbanki Securities + 44 207 426 9000 (UK) Limited About Zenergy Group plc
Zenergy Power plc is a global specialist manufacturer and developer of commercial applications for superconductive materials. Comprising three operating subsidiaries located in Germany (Trithor), USA (SC Power Systems) and Australia (Australian Superconductors), Zenergy is highly focussed on the commercialisation of a number of energy efficient applications to be adopted in renewable energy power generation, energy distribution and large scale, energy intensive industrial processes and achieved the world's first commercial sale of an industrial scale HTS device in September 2007.
About superconductivity
Superconductive materials are capable of conducting electricity without any resistance and were first discovered in 1911 in what was to prove to be one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century.
The global HTS market is substantial and growing, with a number of market studies projecting multi-billion dollar markets for the application of HTS materials and products. The proliferation of the use of superconductor materials is largely being driven by the following key factors:
(a) HTS materials are highly complementary to energy efficient technologies as a substitute for copper
(b) HTS wires have power densities of over 100x that of copper
(c) Current developments are leading to substantially reduced costs in the production of HTS wires and are targeting to be cheaper than copper over the next few years.
(d) HTS applications deliver exceptional energy efficiencies and thus reduced power consumption and running costs
(e) HTS technology is set to play a significant role in reducing CO2 emissions in line with international targets
(f) HTS applications are capable of delivering vastly increased levels of power with increased reliability and reduced material usage
ZENERGY POWER PLC