DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC), a global power technologies company, and Beijing-based Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd. (Sinovel) today announced at the American Wind Energy Association’s WINDPOWER 2010 Conference & Exhibition in Dallas, Texas that they have expanded their strategic partnership to include additional wind turbine designs for both the onshore and offshore markets. Under the new agreement, Sinovel and AMSC’s wholly-owned AMSC Windtec™ subsidiary, will design and jointly develop a range of advanced, multi-megawatt-scale wind turbines that Sinovel plans to market and sell worldwide. Sinovel expects to begin volume production of these multi-megawatt-scale wind turbines by the end of 2012 and, as part of the agreement, will purchase core electrical components from AMSC for these new machines.

Sinovel is China’s largest wind turbine manufacturer and now ranks as the world’s third largest wind turbine manufacturer based on its market share in 2009, according to industry research firms MAKE Consulting and BTM Consult. In 2009, Sinovel shipped approximately 2,400 of its 1.5 MW wind turbines (branded the SL1500) and approximately 100 of it 3 MW wind turbines (branded the SL3000).

“Since its founding in 2004, Sinovel has proven to be China’s dominant wind turbine manufacturer while also quickly rising in the global rankings,” said Sinovel Chairman and President Han Junliang. “Our next objective is to become the largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world. This will be accomplished by our ability to offer a wide array of highly reliable, high-efficiency wind turbines for the global onshore and offshore markets. We are pleased to expand our partnership with AMSC as we execute on our growth plans.”

AMSC Windtec and Sinovel first formed their relationship in 2005. Since that time, AMSC has provided core electrical components for Sinovel’s 1.5 MW wind turbines as well as engineering support services and power electronics for the 3 MW and 5 MW wind turbines that have been co-developed by Sinovel and AMSC Windtec. Sinovel began shipping 3 MW wind turbines for the onshore and offshore markets in 2009.

“Sinovel has built a very strong, fast-growing wind turbine business in China and is now poised to address the global markets with highly reliable, competitively priced wind turbines,” said Greg Yurek, founder and chief executive officer of AMSC. “We are excited to be able to expand the breadth and depth of our partnership with Sinovel to include a range of new wind turbine designs based on advanced technologies that will further strengthen Sinovel’s offerings on the world market through this decade and beyond.”

The world’s wind power capacity grew by 31 percent in 2009 with the addition of 37.5 gigawatts (GW), bringing total global installations up to 157.9 GW, according to the Global Wind Energy Council’s (GWEC) Global Wind 2009 Report. A third of these additions were made in China, making it the world’s largest market in 2009. The country more than doubled its wind generation capacity from 12.1 GW in 2008 to 25.1 GW at the end of 2009, according to the GWEC. Industry Research firm MAKE Consulting expects that China will increase its total amount of grid-connected wind power to approximately 130,000 MW by the end of 2015. The China Meteorological Administration has estimated that China has 253,000 MW of onshore wind power potential and 750,000 MW of offshore wind power potential.

WINDPOWER 2010 Conference & Exhibition

Sinovel and AMSC both will be in attendance at the American Wind Energy Association’s WINDPOWER 2010 Conference & Exhibition in Dallas, Texas from May 25-26, 2010. To learn more about Sinovel, visit Booth #11230. To learn more about AMSC/AMSC Windtec, visit Booth #4620.

About Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd.

Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd. is the first high-tech enterprise in China engaged in independently developing, designing, manufacturing and marketing large-scale onshore/offshore series wind turbines that can adapt to different wind zones and environment. Headquartered in Beijing, Sinovel has manufacturing bases in China’s Dalian, Jiangsu, Inner Mongolia and Gansu Provinces, etc. Sinovel specializes in the R&D, design, manufacturing and sales of a variety of wind turbines. For more information, please visit www.sinovel.com.

About American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC)

AMSC offers an array of proprietary technologies and solutions spanning the electric power infrastructure – from generation to delivery to end use. The company is a leader in renewable energy, providing proven, megawatt-scale wind turbine designs and electrical control systems. The company also offers a host of Smart Grid technologies for power grid operators that enhance the reliability, efficiency and capacity of the grid, and seamlessly integrate renewable energy sources into the power infrastructure. These include superconductor power cable systems, grid-level surge protectors and power electronics-based voltage stabilization systems. AMSC’s technologies are protected by a broad and deep intellectual property portfolio consisting of hundreds of patents and licenses worldwide. More information is available at www.amsc.com.

American Superconductor and design, Revolutionizing the Way the World Uses Electricity, AMSC, Powered by AMSC, D-VAR, dSVC, PowerModule, PQ-IVR, PQ-SVC, Secure Super Grids, SuperGEAR, SeaTitan and, Windtec and design are trademarks or registered trademarks of American Superconductor Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

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