Monday, February 21, 2005

Energy

American Superconductor to help regulate Canadian wind farm output

Westborough-based American Superconductor Corp. will make the voltage regulation system to hook up a wind farm being built along the U.S.-Canadian border to the power grid.

The company employs about 250 people, with the bulk of employees working in Massachusetts and the rest in offices in Wisconsin.

The new order for the Kettles Hill wind farm near the border of Montana and Idaho is for American Superconductor's D-VAR voltage regulation system. No financial details of the deal were disclosed.

The order includes one unit and equipment such as transformers and capacitor banks. The setup steadily regulates the voltage from the wind farm up and down as it flows into the transmission grid, compensating for fluctuations in power from the turbines as the wind changes speeds.

It's expected that the wind farm at the southern end of Alberta will be up and running by 2006 with 35 Vestas wind turbines churning out 63 megawatts.

Kettles Hill is the eighth wind farm customer to choose American Superconductor's products and the seventh in North America, according to the company.

American Superconductor is a vendor of high-temperature superconductor wire and large rotating superconductor machinery, and a supplier of dynamic reactive devices to stabilize power grids.