AMSC gets $20M bump in Sinovel contract, posts profit

By Mass High Tech Staff

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Energy tech company American Superconductor Corp. reports that Beijing-based Sinovel Wind Corp. Ltd. increased the size of its contract to more than $470 million to meet greater demand for its wind turbines in China. That and other deals pushed AMSC to its second profitable quarter in a row.

The original Sinovel contract, signed in January and valued at $450 million, had called for AMSC (Nasdaq: AMSC) to ship core electrical components for Sinovel’s 1.5 megawatt wind turbines through the end of December 2011. Now, AMSC will increase its core electrical component shipments to Sinovel in 2009 and 2010 and now agrees to complete all shipments by the end of April 2011.

Devens-based AMSC’s wind turbine electrical systems and core electrical components — which include the company’s PowerModule power converters — control power flows, regulate voltage, monitor system performance and control the pitch of wind turbine blades to maximize efficiency.

AMSC has been working with Sinovel since 2005, and the two companies entered into a joint development contract in 2007. AMSC’s wind equipment stems from the company’s acquisition of Austria-based Windtec in January 2007 for $12.4 million.

For the first quarter — ending June 30 — of its fiscal year, AMSC posted a profit of $1.8 million compared to a net loss of $6.1 million in the year-earlier quarter. This is only the second profitable quarter in the company’s history, following its $1.3 million in profit in fourth-quarter 2008, which ended March 31, 2009, the company said.

Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 was $73 million, an 83 percent increase over $39.8 million in revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2008, according to AMSC officials.

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