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news release:
American Superconductor
Announces Record Electrical Performance for Proprietary 2G High Temperature
Superconductors
Hannover, Germany, Apr. 24: American
Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:
AMSC) , a leading energy technologies company, announced today at Hannover
Fair 2006, the world's leading showcase for industrial technology, a new record
for electrical performance of its proprietary second generation (2G) high
temperature superconductor (HTS) wire. AMSC's scientists achieved an additional
10% increase in electrical performance of its 2G HTS wire to 492 Amperes per
centimeter of wire width. This is an increase of 44 Amperes over the previous
record set by American Superconductor just a few months ago. This level of
electrical performance is well above the threshold of 300 Amperes per centimeter
of width for commercial introduction and approaches the benchmark of 500 Amperes
per centimeter of width required for broad commercial adoption of high
temperature superconductors.
AMSC also announced that it achieved its
objective to ship 2,500 meters of its industry standard 2G wire known as "344
superconductors" by March 31, 2006. The company shipped a total of 2,738 meters
of 344 superconductors to 19 customers in eight countries (China, Germany,
Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the United States) as of
March 31st. AMSC reiterated that it expects to deliver an additional 10,000
meters of 344 superconductors in its fiscal year ending March 31, 2007 as it
accelerates the migration from first generation to second generation HTS wire.
"This new record performance for our proprietary
second generation wire technology is a significant achievement and meets a key
electrical performance benchmark ahead of schedule," said Greg Yurek, CEO of
American Superconductor. "Our ongoing investment in 2G HTS materials technology,
while we are also scaling up manufacturing, allows us to increase the electrical
performance of the wire and at the same time, meet demand from customers who
want to migrate as soon as possible to the 2G platform."
344S Superconductors Added to Product Line
AMSC also announced at the Hannover Fair that it
has added a new stainless steel-clad version of its 344 superconductors --
"344S" -- to its line of HTS wire products. The company's 344 superconductors
comprise a tape-shaped 2G HTS wire clad on both sides with ultra-thin strips of
copper. Stainless steel replaces the copper in the new 344S superconductors, a
wire product that was developed to provide a high resistance electrical path
needed for grid reliability products called "fault current limiters." Fault
current limiters are basically surge protectors for power grids. AMSC has
already sold small quantities of 344S superconductors to companies and
organizations that are developing fault current limiters.
"Our ability to tailor 344 superconductors to
meet varying customer specifications is achieved in the final manufacturing step
in which we clad the base 2G material with the appropriate metal or alloy -- a
methodology we have perfected in the manufacturing of our first generation HTS
wire," said Yurek.
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