Monday, January 16, 2006

Energy

AMSC systems to be used in wind farm Down Under

American Superconductor Corp. has received an order for two D-VAR voltage regulation systems from Australia's Lake Bonney Wind Power Pty Ltd. (LBWP), through its operator, National Power Co., an independent renewable energy project developer based in San Francisco and Sydney, Australia.

The D-VAR systems is set to be installed in two phases at the Lake Bonney II wind project located near Millicent, South Australia. The D-VAR systems are being designed to provide dynamic and steady state voltage support required to meet Australian grid interconnection requirements. Financial details of the deal were not released.

Phase One of the wind project, which is the first in Australia for Westborough-based AMSC, includes 45 megawatts of wind generation and an associated 12 megaVAR (MVAR) D-VAR system. Phase Two would add an additional 114 MW of wind generation and another 12 MVAR D-VAR system.

AMSC is expected to ship the D-VAR systems in June and December 2006.

Overall, this is the 12th wind farm worldwide to incorporate AMSC's D-VAR dynamic voltage control technologies in locations such as Washington, Hawaii and Ontario, Canada.

American Superconductor Corp. stock was trading at midmorning for $9.64 per share, down 3 cents from its close yesterday.