Illustration: Megan Robinson/Axios
In the face of a massive transmission bottleneck in the U.S., investors are backing technologies that can upgrade transmission lines and help alleviate the queues.
Why it matters: Demand for clean power-generated electricity is on track to soar, and next-gen transmission tech will be desperately needed.
Driving the news: The investing subsidiary of oil and industrial giant Koch (KDT) has invested in Houston-based company MetOx, which makes super-efficient wires for the power grid.
- MetOx said it raised part of a Series B round, and additional participating investors include Safar Partners, Piedmont Capital Investments, and DNS Capital.
- The funding will be used to grow production of its high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wires from small quantities to potentially the largest supplier in North America.
- The company's wires can replace traditional copper wires in the grid and can be used to make transmission cables that are up to 10 times more efficient, says the company.
State of play: HTS cables have been in development and deployed for years — in use in a few places like Korea, France and the U.S. — but the technology has been prohibitively expensive for mass adoption.
- With advances in material science, companies have been building new superconducting materials and investors have been backing them.
- Startup VEIR is developing a new generation of transmission lines using high-temperature superconductors that the company says can multiply capacity by five to 10 times compared to traditional lines.
- VEIR raised a Series A round from investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Congruent Ventures, and Galvanize Climate Solutions
- In October, the Department of Energy's ARPA-E program awarded $10 million to three projects, including MetOx's Houston facility, to bring down the cost of domestic manufacturing of superconducting wires.
Of note: HTS tech could also play a critical role in tomorrow's energy technologies like high-performance magnets and systems for nuclear fusion.
Big picture: Slow deployment of transmission lines is one of the chief barriers to building out a clean power grid.
- Power companies are more eagerly adopting grid-enhancing technologies, which can boost transmission lines by using computing to control the power flow, line switch to avoid congestion, and monitor lines.
- Earlier this year Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at a PG&E event that to electrify homes and transportation, the grid will need to triple output, and that utilities are likely vastly underestimating the coming demand.
- U.S. lawmakers are trying to fix the transmission problem with regulatory changes. On Wednesday, Reps. Mike Levin and Sean Casten released the most ambitious bill on transmission that Democrats have put out so far.
