Wednesday, October 15, 2008

AMSC licenses wind turbine tech to Hyundai Heavy Industries

By Mass High Tech Staff

American Superconductor Corp. continues to make deals around its wind power technology, reporting that it has licensed a pair of its proprietary wind turbine designs to industrial giant Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. of South Korea.

The contracts call for AMSC’s subsidiary AMSC Windtec to license designs to Hyundai Heavy Industries for AMSC’s (Nasdaq: AMSC) proprietary 1.65 megawatt (MW) and 2 MW doubly fed induction wind turbines. The South Korean industrial conglomerate says it plans to begin production of 1.65 MW wind turbines by the end of 2009, initially targeting the United States market.

While no financial details of the deal were released, Hyundai Heavy Industries (Korean Stock Exchange: HHI) agreed to pay upfront license fees for each design, and Devens-based AMSC will receive royalty payments for the first several hundred 1.65 MW and 2 MW wind turbines produced by HHI.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, founded in 1972, has approximately 25,000 employees worldwide and is one of the largest shipbuilders, as well as a major builder of power plants and a global supplier of high-power electrical equipment. According to Young N. Kim, COO of HHI Electro Electric Systems, the renewable energy space is a logical next step for the company’s growth.

Earlier this month, AMSC entered into a contract to design wind turbines for XJ Group Corp. of China. The “multi-million-dollar” contract called for AMSC Windtec to provide XJ Group with designs for a 2 MW wind turbine. In addition to an unspecified upfront fee, AMSC said it expects to provide electrical components for the 2 MW wind turbines made by XJ Group, which is based in Xuchang in the Henan province.

AMSC employs approximately 382 employees and reported a $25.4 million loss on $112.4 million in revenue for its last fiscal year, which ended in March 2008.