AMSC Continues Sales Growth in Wind Energy Market

American Superconductor Corporation has received new orders for its D-VAR voltage regulation systems for wind farms in Northern Ireland and Texas. With these additional orders, AMSC now has an installed base and orders for D-VAR and PowerModule solutions to serve more than 2,900 megawatts (MW) of wind power worldwide - nearly triple the amount served by AMSC 12 months ago.

According the British Wind Energy Association, the installed base of wind generated electricity in the United Kingdom rose 48 percent in 2006 to 1,963 MW. Stankiewicz noted that the new Texas wind farm installation for which the company received a D-VAR order was determined by the local transmission grid owner to require dynamic reactive support to maintain voltage stability when the wind farm is connected to the grid. AMSC's D-VAR system was selected to meet this requirement.

According to the American Wind Energy Association, wind power generating capacity in the United States increased by 27 percent in 2006 to 11,603 MW. Texas accounted for nearly a third of all new installed capacity in 2006 and currently has approximately 774 MW of capacity on line, the most wind power of any state.