Mar 22 2010
American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC), a global power technologies company, announced today that it has received an initial order for full wind turbine electrical control systems from China's largest wind turbine manufacturer, 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.
Sinovel is China's largest wind turbine manufacturer and ranks among the top five wind turbine manufacturers in the world. In 2009, the company 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. Sinovel's SL5000 will be China's largest and most powerful domestically produced wind energy system.
"Sinovel is a juggernaut in the wind industry with tremendous experience manufacturing turbines with the most advanced technology," said AMSC founder and Chief Executive Officer Greg Yurek. "Building on the strength of the company's 1.5 MW and 3 MW platforms, the production of the higher power-rated SL5000 systems positions Sinovel as a technology leader globally."
China's wind power market experienced another record year of growth, more than doubling its wind generating capacity from 12.1 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. They enable reliable, high-performance wind turbine operation by controlling power flows, regulating voltage, monitoring system performance, controlling the pitch of wind turbine blades and the yaw of the turbines to maximize efficiency.