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American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC) received an initial order for wind turbine electrical control systems from one of China’s largest wind turbine manufacturers, Beijing-based Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd. (Sinovel). The systems will be deployed in Sinovel’s first 5-megawatt (MW) doubly fed induction wind turbines.
AMSC expects to deliver the electrical control systems to Sinovel in the second half of calendar year 2010. Financial terms were not disclosed.
In 2009, Sinovel shipped approximately 2,400 1.5-MW wind turbines and approximately 100 3-MW wind turbines, or approximately 3,900 MW of wind power equipment. Each of these wind turbines contained core electrical components from AMSC.
Sinovel expects to have its first 5 MW wind turbines (branded the SL5000) erected within the next 12 months and to commence full production of the wind turbines in 2011.
China’s wind power market experienced another record year of growth, more than doubling its wind generating capacity from 12.1 gigawatts (GW) in 2008 to 25.1 GW at the end of 2009, according to the Global Wind Energy Council. Industry research firm Emerging Energy Research (EER) expects China’s total installed capacity to exceed 200 GW by 2020.
AMSC’s wind turbine electrical control systems and core electrical components include the company’s proprietary PowerModule™ power converters, pitch and yaw converters, SCADA systems and other power electronics.
Strategic Alliance
In a separate release, AMSC announced the expansion of a strategic alliance with LS Cable, the third largest power cable manufacturer in the world.
Under the new agreement, LS Cable and AMSC will work collaboratively to deploy more than 31 miles of superconductor power cables in commercial power grids over the next five years. The original alliance, established in September 2009, called for the deployment of a minimum of 6.2 miles.
The strategic alliance focuses on the full spectrum of superconductor cable projects, including distribution and transmission voltages as well as alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) systems. Superconductor power cable systems manufactured by LS Cable will utilize AMSC’s proprietary second generation (2G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire, branded as 344 superconductors.
AMSC says power cables made with its HTS wire can conduct up to 10 times the amount of power of conventional cables, which are made with copper wire. They can be placed strategically in the power grid to draw flow from overtaxed conventional cables or overhead lines to mitigate grid congestion experienced in urban centers. They also automatically suppress dangerous power surges to create resilient, ‘self-healing’ Smart Grids that can survive attacks and natural disasters, making them an ideal modernization tool for metropolitan power grids.
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