National Grid Electricity System Operator
National Grid TO Innovation Team
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The UltraWire project consists of 2 parts, firstly the Nano
Carbon Enhance Materials (NCEM) consortium, where
knowledge is shared between interested parties in the field of
enhanced Nano Carbon materials. The members include
industry & academia and aim to find applications and drivers
for NCEM.
The second part is the Euro FP7 project UltraWire, which NGET
joined as a result of the NCEM consortium. Within NCEM, a
demonstration of synthesis of wires was given by Dr Kosiol at
University of Cambridge. This attracted large interest and the
UltraWire project was developed. This project consists of a
large consortium, of which NGET is one of the Industrial
partners.
The use of electrical energy continues to increase. Worldwide
energy-related carbon dioxide emissions are projected to rise
43% between 2008 and 2035. Our future depends in many ways
on increasing the efficiency of our energy usage. Today 8% of
generated electricity is consumed in resistive losses, in the
distribution network, within the electrical devices employed by
end-users and in the transmission network. The large majority
of these losses occur in copper-based subsystems including
wiring, motors and transformers. Increasing the electrical
conductivity of copper-based materials can address reducing
losses across the large majority of these electrical uses. It is a
potential step-change for society.
Countries and companies that develop the manufacturing
technology for high, room-temperature conductivity of copper
will be able to drive value into society and create new jobs. This
new manufacturing technology generates value beyond simply
cost-reducing manufacturing processes, which continue to
drive jobs from Europe to Asia.
With the current drain on Copper resources globally, using
Copper in the current demands makes this metal an
unsustainable commodity. This project is looking to reduce the
amount of copper needed to produce a conductor.
This project describes the scientific development and pilotfabrication
of electrical wire made from ultra conductive copper
(“UltraWire”), an advanced copper-carbon nanocomposite
material. Wire is the most common form in which copper
carries electrical energy today, and this is the most useful form
for immediate take-up by the energy industry. The project
brings factory processes and science together using leading
European universities and large companies from the European
copper, cable and manufacturing equipment industries.