VEIR, a new superconducting electric transmission company, welcomes the New Year with new office and technology development space in Woburn, Massachusetts. VEIR is developing the next generation electric transmission lines that use liquid nitrogen to cool superconducting materials that can move five-times the amount of electricity as conventional copper or aluminum wires. The technology comes at a time when major studies indicate that the United States must double or triple the amount of transmission capacity the country needs to connect more renewable energy to the electric grid and combat climate change. VEIR’s new space encompasses 13,000 square feet. It includes 11,000 square feet of laboratory space with a 24-foot ceiling and a footprint long enough to allow the installation of test beds of more than one-hundred feet in length. The new space will help to accelerate VEIR’s technical testing and the deployment of its superconductors to the grid.

“This location suits our needs perfectly,” said VEIR’s Chief Technology Officer, Tim Heidel. “In this space we have the room to run long test beds where we can prove and perfect the performance of our lines. Once we demonstrate that the technology works here in the lab, we will then quickly move the system into the field to demonstrate of how it works when connected to the electric grid.”

VEIR projects that use of its new superconductors will aid in the siting and permitting of new electric transmission lines – an increasing challenge to the needed expansion of the electric grid. “The use of VEIR’s superconductors will reduce the physical footprint and environmental impact of new transmission lines,” said VEIR’s Chief Executive Officer Adam Wallen. “With VEIR’s superconducting lines electric utilities and other transmission companies can use their existing rights-of-way to move five times the amount the power without expanding the width of the right-of-way or using taller transmission towers. From a practical perspective that should make siting and permitting easier.”

VEIR intends to have an official ribbon-cutting opening of its new facility in the second quarter of 2022. The company employs a dozen people and expects to double that number in the next year.

VEIR, Inc. (www.VEIR.com) was founded in 2020. It is funded by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Congruent, and The Engine. It closed Series A funding of $12M in March 2021.