IEEE Spectrum Selects American Superconductor's SuperVAR Synchronous Condenser as a Winning Product for 20068 January 2006
WESTBOROUGH, Mass., Jan. 5 -- American Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC), a leading electricity solutions company, today announced that its high temperature superconductor (HTS) SuperVAR(R) synchronous condenser has been selected by the editors of IEEE Spectrum as one of the "Best Technology Projects of 2006." IEEE Spectrum, one of the world's most prestigious and influential technology publications, is the flagship publication of the IEEE, the world's largest professional technology association. The feature story about the company's SuperVAR system can be found in the January issue of IEEE Spectrum, online at http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jan06/2604.
The SuperVAR system is a breakthrough product designed to stabilize grid voltages, increase service reliability and help maximize transmission capacity particularly through the management of reactive power.
As IEEE Spectrum explains, "Reactive power is what's required to counteract lagging currents and sagging voltage, and if it isn't supplied quickly or efficiently enough, networks crash or equipment suffers. Indeed, reactive-power-supply problems are among the chief culprits in an overall power-anomaly and -disturbance problem that costs the United States alone between US $119 billion and $188 billion a year in lost economic activity, according to a 2001 report by the Electric Power Research Institute, in Palo Alto, California. Such staggering losses add up to 1.2 percent to 1.9 percent a year of the country's gross domestic product, the report noted."
IEEE Spectrum notes that " ... the SuperVAR [system] has several inherent advantages over standard synchronous condensers that do not rely on superconductors. Because there is no heating in the coil there are virtually no thermal stresses and no losses in its field coils. Also, thanks to the large air gap between the stator and rotor coils -- a feature that is possible because the current density in the superconducting coils is so high -- the machine is able to inject on demand lots of current and, hence, lots of reactive power."
IEEE Spectrum also noted that "SuperVAR [system] is expected to be a cost- effective source of dynamic reactive power. Its footprint is much smaller than those of equally rated conventional machines -- a very important factor, especially in urban grids where substation space is scarce. In many places, because of the somewhat haphazard way the grid has been reorganized in the era of restructuring and deregulation, reactive power is not always provided efficiently."
American Superconductor offers a range of products and services to address the need to make transmission grids more reliable and secure. To learn more about these and other AMSC products please visit: http://www.amsuper.com/products/transmissionGrid/index.cfm
About Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
The IEEE is a non-profit, technical professional association of more than 365,000 individual members in approximately 150 countries. Through its members, the IEEE is a leading authority in technical areas ranging from computer engineering, biomedical technology and telecommunications, to electric power, aerospace engineering and consumer electronics, among others.
Through its technical publishing, conferences and consensus-based standards activities, the IEEE produces 30 percent of the world's published literature in electrical and electronics engineering, and computer science areas, holds annually more than 300 major conferences and has nearly 900 active standards with almost 500 under development. http://www.ieee.org
About American Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC)
AMSC is the world's principal vendor of high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire and large rotating superconductor machinery, and it is a world- leading supplier of dynamic reactive power grid stabilization products. AMSC's HTS wire and power electronic converters are at the core of a broad range of new electricity transmission and distribution, transportation, medical and industrial processing applications, including dynamic reactive power grid stabilization solutions, large ship propulsion motors and generators, smart, controllable, superconductor power cables and advanced defense systems.
The company's products are supported by hundreds of patents and licenses covering technologies fundamental to Revolutionizing the Way the World Uses Electricity(TM). More information is available at http://www.amsuper.com.
American Superconductor and design, AMSC, POWERED BY AMSC, and Revolutionizing the Way the World Uses Electricity are trademarks and SuperVAR is a registered trademark of American Superconductor Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Any statements in this release about future expectations, plans and prospects for the Company, including statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will" and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include: uncertainties regarding the Company's ability to obtain anticipated funding from corporate and government contracts, to successfully develop, manufacture and market commercial products, and to secure anticipated orders; the risk that a robust market may not develop for the Company's products; the risk that strategic alliances and other contracts may be terminated; the risk that certain technologies utilized by the Company will infringe intellectual property rights of others; the competition encountered by the Company, including several large Japanese companies. Reference is made to these and other factors discussed in the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation" section of the Company's most recent quarterly or annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this release. While the Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause the Company's views to change, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date this press release is issued.
Contact Information
Media
Wanda Whitson 508-621-4454
American Superconductor wwhitson@amsuper.com
Investors
Kevin Bisson 508-621-4220
American Superconductor investor@amsuper.com
Source: prnewswire
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