AMSC’s Windtec to Develop 3 MW & 5 MW Wind Energy Systems

Westborough, Massachusetts [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] American Superconductor Corporation’s wholly owned subsidiary, Windtec, has signed a multi-million-dollar wind energy system joint development contract with Sinovel Wind Co., Ltd., a high tech wind energy systems company headquartered in Beijing.

Windtec and Sinovel will design and jointly develop 3- and 5-megawatt (MW) wind energy systems that Sinovel plans to market and sell worldwide. Sinovel will have the exclusive ownership and complete industrial and intellectual property rights for large-scale onshore and offshore wind turbines developed under this contract. Based in Beijing, Sinovel plans to begin series production of 3 MW systems during 2009 and 5 MW systems in 2010. “We look forward to benefiting from our expanded relationship with Windtec,” said Han Junliang, Chairman and President of Sinovel, “as we continue to implement our plan to manufacture 500 wind energy systems in 2007, 800 in 2008 and reach an annual capacity of 1,000 wind energy systems in 2010.” Since 2005, Sinovel has ordered electrical components from Windtec for 785 wind energy systems rated at 1.5 MW. By December 2006, Sinovel had already signed more than US$1 billion in contracts to supply domestically made wind energy systems to help meet China’s rising demand for clean energy. The Chinese government has mandated that at least 70 percent of equipment used in Chinese wind farms must be made in China. Greg Yurek, founder and chief executive officer of AMSC, said, “We are honored that [Sinovel] has chosen Windtec to aid in expanding its product offerings to 3 and 5 MW systems — a step that will help considerably to meet the renewable energy needs of China.”