Apr 9 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 worth more than US$20 million from Ghodawat Energy Pvt. Ltd. (GEPL). Under the terms of the contract, AMSC will begin shipping the electrical control systems to Ghodawat in the middle of calendar 2010 and will complete all shipments by the end of calendar 2013 at the latest. Ghodawat is the sixth customer to place a volume production order for wind turbine power electronic components or systems with AMSC over the past 12 months.
“Pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and energy independence are growing, global concerns that are helping to drive the adoption of clean, renewable power,” said Shrenik Ghodawat, Managing Director of GEPL. “We are now beginning the production of wind turbines in India that are at the leading edge of technology to help meet this critical need. Our goal is to achieve 25 percent market share in India’s wind power market while also building our business in foreign markets.”
The flagship renewable energy arm of Maharashtra, India-based Sanjay Ghodawat Group, GEPL has a strong track record in the wind power industry. GEPL today owns and operates over 150 wind turbines that are generating over 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity at wind farms in four states of India. It also operates a tubular-type wind turbine tower manufacturing facility under Shrenik Industries Pvt. Ltd., a 100% subsidy of GEPL. Its manufacturing capacity is 400 towers per year. The company has now begun manufacturing full 1.65 MW doubly fed induction wind turbines that were designed by and licensed from AMSC’s wholly owned AMSC Windtec™ subsidiary. GEPL already has erected its first 1.65 MW wind turbines (branded the Ghodawat 1650) and recently completed construction of a wind turbine production plant in Maharashtra with an estimated annual output of 500 MW.
GEPL licensed AMSC Windtec’s proprietary WT1650df wind turbine design and manufacturing know-how under a contract signed in 2008. GEPL has the right to sell the 1.65 MW turbines around the globe.
“In India, wind power is projected to continue to account for an increasing percentage of the country’s energy mix,” said AMSC founder and Chief Executive Officer Greg Yurek. “Ghodawat is capitalizing on this opportunity by producing towers, developing wind farms and – now – manufacturing and deploying entire wind turbine systems. With its years of industry experience and proven wind turbine technology from AMSC, we believe Ghodawat is positioned to be a winner in the market.”
According to a report issued in March 2010 by industry research firm MAKE Consulting, India ranked fifth in the world with approximately 10,500 MW of wind power installed at the end of 2009. MAKE expects that India will more than double its installed base to nearly 24,000 MW by the end of 2015.
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.