AMSC announces additional D-VAR orders for grid interconnection of wind farms in the UK

DEVENS, USA: American Superconductor Corp. has received several new orders for its proprietary D-VAR reactive compensation solution for wind farms in the United Kingdom, including two orders from Manchester, England-based Nordex UK Ltd.

AMSC’s D-VAR Intelligent Grid solutions will now be deployed at 15 wind farms in the United Kingdom. Manufactured in Middleton, WI, AMSC’s D-VAR solutions are now being used to safely interconnect wind farms in a total of six countries around the world. Orders for AMSC’s D-VAR solution for wind farm grid interconnection reached a new record in 2010, more than doubling over 2009 levels. AMSC expects to continue to grow this portion of its power grid business as a result of the rising global demand for clean, zero-emission energy.

“Nordex is committed to providing optimal wind power quality for power grid operators,” said David Horsfield, Head of Engineering, Nordex UK Ltd. “Our guiding principle is to harness the wind intelligently. AMSC’s D-VAR solution assists in providing a safe interconnection of wind-generated electricity to the power grid, which is fundamental to bringing this clean energy resource online.”

Nordex UK Ltd. is part of the German-based Nordex Group, which has subsidiaries in 10 countries with key markets in Europe, China and the United States. The two D-VAR solutions provided to Nordex UK Ltd. under these new contracts will be used to enable extensions of the company’s Kilbraur and Millennium wind farms located in Scotland to meet local grid interconnection requirements. AMSC’s D-VAR solutions have been successfully providing system-wide voltage control at the initial phases of both of these wind farms.

“The United Kingdom’s wind power market continues to grow strongly as the country strives to meet its objective of deriving 15% percent of its total energy consumption from renewables by 2020,” said AMSC President and Chief Operating Officer Dan McGahn. “Nordex is a key enabler of this emerging market. We are pleased to partner with this leading company to help the United Kingdom to meet its clean energy objectives.”

In 2009, the United Kingdom installed over a gigawatt (GW) of new wind capacity, bringing its total installed capacity to more than 4 GW, according to the Global Wind Energy Council. Industry research firm IHS Emerging Energy Research expects the United Kingdom’s total capacity of onshore and offshore wind power will exceed 40 GW by 2025.

Intelligent Grid solutions are utilized to fortify power networks to enable them to become more resilient and efficient, which are requirements for the effective wide-spread application of new technologies such as Advanced Metering Infrastructure and plug-in electric vehicles.

D-VAR STATCOM systems are Intelligent Grid solutions that constantly monitor the power grid and automatically and instantly stabilize voltage to enable higher power transfer through existing power lines with increased reliability and efficiency. AMSC’s D-VAR solutions are also utilized to reliably interconnect sources of renewable energy to power grids.

AMSC’s D-VAR customers include more than 20 electric utilities and over 70 wind farms worldwide.