The energy of the future is born in Genoa: Nature rewards Asg Superconductors

Genova confirms its role as an international hub for energy innovation. The scientific journal Nature has identified Asg Superconductors, owned by the Malacalza family, as a benchmark company in the superconductors sector.

The company produces the MgB2 superconducting cable (magnesium diboride), described by the prestigious journal as the best currently available: a technology capable of transporting enormous quantities of clean energy — up to 3.2 gigawatts — with performance levels up to 500 times greater than copper.

The roots of this excellence are deeply connected to the local territory: everything originated from a small factory in San Desiderio, acquired in the 1980s by Vittorio Malacalza from the division of Ansaldo Energia. Today, that facility represents the core of a technological hub playing a leading role in the development of advanced solutions for electricity transmission.

Asg Superconductors is in fact among the very few companies worldwide involved in the industrial production of MgB2 superconducting cables, a key technology for addressing the challenges of the energy transition. Renewable energy sources — such as solar and wind — are naturally intermittent and often located far from consumption centers; therefore, excess energy produced in certain areas or at certain times risks being wasted. Superconducting cables, however, make it possible to transport these vast amounts of energy over long distances at lower voltages while delivering extremely high power levels.

According to Nature, MgB2 also stands out for its economic sustainability: the cables operate at cryogenic temperatures between 20 and 25 Kelvin (-253 °C), significantly higher than those required by other superconductors, resulting in lower cooling costs.

It is no coincidence that one of the key development centers for this technology is located precisely in Genova, a city with a long-standing and consolidated electromechanical tradition linked to the Ansaldo group.

The international significance of this innovation is already tangible: MgB2 cables are used at CERN in Geneva, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, and in the ITER project in France, the most important global nuclear fusion experiment, aimed at replicating on Earth the same energy process that powers the sun. Beyond these cutting-edge applications, their use is already widespread in the medical field: the most common application of MgB₂ cables remains in MRI scanners.

The study published by Nature outlines a new frontier: an innovative system capable of simultaneously transmitting renewable energy and hydrogen over long distances, opening unprecedented scenarios for infrastructure and the energy transition.

Genova thus demonstrates its vocation as a platform for industrial and technological innovation: a city where research, industry, and strategic vision come together to drive the global energy transition.