News - Grid Interconnection Requirements to be Solved for Australian Wind Farm Utilizing American Superconductor's D-VAR(R) System - Netscape Celebrity

WESTBOROUGH, Mass., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC), a leading electricity solutions company, received an order for two D-VAR(R) voltage regulation systems from Lake Bonney Wind Power Pty Ltd. (LBWP), through its operator, National Power Company, an independent renewable energy project developer based in San Francisco and Sydney. The D-VAR systems will be installed in two phases at the Lake Bonney II wind project located near Millicent, South Australia in Australia. The D-VAR systems will provide dynamic and steady state voltage support required to meet Australian grid interconnection requirements. Phase One of the wind project, which is the first in Australia for AMSC, includes 45 megawatts (MW) of wind generation and an associated 12 megaVAR (MVAR) D-VAR solution. Phase Two will add an additional 114 MW of wind generation and another 12 MVAR D-VAR solution. AMSC is expected to ship the D-VAR systems in June and December of this year. Phase One energization is expected in November - December, 2006 and Phase Two energization is expected in April - May, 2007. "LBWP chose American Superconductor's dynamic voltage regulation solution in order to comply with interconnection requirements established by the Essential Services Commission of South Australia (ESCOSA) and the (National Electricity Market Management Company) NEMMCO for the Lake Bonney II wind power project," noted Tim Flato, a partner at National Power. "The interconnection standards require dynamic voltage regulation and control, and the wind farm must also have the ability to ride through high voltage situations. We chose the AMSC D-VAR voltage regulation system because of its proven performance at similar wind farms around the world." According to the world market update published by BTM Consult Aps, the global wind energy growth rate for the next five years will be around 15-20%. Australia ranks among the leaders in the world with approximately a 35% forecasted growth rate. The Australian Wind Energy Association indicates that Australia has 572 MW of installed wind energy and 5,914 additional proposed wind energy projects.
"With this increasing demand for wind energy, electric industry regulators are increasingly mandating strict grid interconnection standards for wind farms. Countries such as Australia, Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States have recently established criteria requiring dynamic voltage control and we anticipate other countries will soon follow," said Greg Yurek, CEO of AMSC. "Our unique D-VAR voltage regulation system has become the industry product of choice for helping wind facilities meet these new grid interconnection standards."
Overall, this is the 12th wind farm worldwide to incorporate AMSC's advanced D-VAR dynamic voltage control technologies. These projects bring the total wind-generated electric power served by AMSC's D-VAR systems to more than 1000 MW. To learn more about AMSC's D-VAR solutions, see: http://www.amsuper.com/products/transmissionGrid/104273030481.cfm. For more information on AMSC's wind energy solutions, see: http://www.amsuper.com/products/applications/windEnergy/index.cfm.
About Lake Bonney Wind Power Pty Ltd:
Lake Bonney Wind Power Pty Ltd is the owner of the Lake Bonney wind farm in South Australia. The project is operated by National Power Company, an independent renewable energy project developer based in San Francisco and Sydney. National power was founded in 1991 and is a private, employee-owned company whose owners have significant experience in the development, financing and construction of power and industrial projects. National Power has in- house wind farm development expertise along with commercial business development and construction management skills. The Lake Bonney II Wind Power Project is a joint venture development with Babcock and Brown.
About American Superconductor Corporation (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, Revolutionizing the Way the World Uses Electricity, and PowerModule are trademarks and D-VAR is a registered trademark of American Superconductor Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.