American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: 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 reported financial results and accomplishments for its fiscal second quarter ended September 30, 2006 and provided an insight to activities in the last half of FY 2007.
Revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2007 were $9.6 million, and the company’s net loss was $7.0 million, or $0.21 per share. Revenues for the second quarter of the previous fiscal year were $10.9 million, and the company’s net loss was $6.8 million, or $0.21 per share.
The company ended the second quarter of fiscal 2007 with no debt and $46.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments compared to $65.7 million on March 31, 2006.
The company’s total backlog of orders and contracts more than doubled to $42.6 million on September 30, 2006, compared to the $18.4 million in backlog as of September 30, 2005, plus several new contracts and orders received in October, which totaled $6.2 million .
During the first half of fiscal year 2007 some of AMSC's accomplishments were:
- The August groundbreaking ceremony for the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) first generation (1G) HTS transmission cable.
- The commissioning of Niagara Mohawk’s 1 G HTS distribution cable in Albany, New York,
- They helped commission American Electric Power’s (AEP) ‘Triax’ HTS distribution cable in Columbus, Ohio in September. The unique Triax cable, which utilizes AMSC’s wire, is able to carry as much power as 18 large copper cables with much less energy loss.
By demonstrating the inherent benefits of HTS technology for congested, unreliable power grids, each of these above projects brings AMSC closer to broad commercial adoption of HTS cables.
- Initiated final assembly and factory testing of the 36.5-MW HTS ship propulsion motor for the U.S. Navy in Philadelphia. This motor will be delivered to the Navy near the end of calendar 2006.
- Received orders for nearly 150,000 meters of 1G HTS wire from various customers, including the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI). KERI, based in Changwon, South Korea, will utilize 22,000 meters of 1G wire to begin a 10-year project focused on developing superconductor magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems.
- Achieved a breakthrough in electricity with the world’s first commercial-grade electrical performance in long lengths of second generation (2G) HTS wire – known as 344 superconductors – made by a low cost, high volume, scaleable industrial process. 344 superconductors are hair-thin, three-ply, ribbon shaped wires that are 4.4-millimeters wide. Over 100 copper wires of the same dimensions would be needed to conduct as much current as one 344 superconductor.
- Achieved levels of magnetic, electrical, thermal and mechanical performance required for commercial electromagnetic coils utilizing a new three-ply, 4.8-millimeter wide 2G HTS wire that the company has branded as 348 superconductors. Electromagnetic coils are the core component of virtually all electrical products beyond power cables.
- Received a recent order for 450 PowerModule™ systems for wind farms in China that will provide us with a significant amount of fiscal 2008 revenue. While the wind power market has been the biggest catalyst for sales growth for our Power Electronic Systems business in recent quarters, we expect the electric utility sector to be an additional key driver for our growth in fiscal 2008.”
The company has exceeded or on track to achieve the following milestones during the remainder of FY 2007.
- EXCEEDED: Secure additional orders for AMSC’s power electronics solutions (based on D-VAR and PowerModule systems) to increase the amount of wind-generated electricity served by AMSC’s products by 100% to 2 billion watts (2,000 megawatts) of zero-emission electricity.
- ON TRACK: Sell over 10,000 meters of 344 superconductors (2G HTS wire) to customers in fiscal 2007, continuing to drive the migration from 1G to 2G HTS wire in the global marketplace.
- ON TRACK: Ship the world’s first commercial SuperVAR® synchronous condenser to TVA in December 2006; ship the second commercial SuperVAR system to TVA by March 31, 2007.
- ON TRACK: Sell over 10,000 meters of 344 superconductors (2G HTS wire) to customers in fiscal 2007, continuing to drive the migration from 1G to 2G HTS wire in the global marketplace.
- ON TRACK: Ship the world’s first 36.5-MW HTS ship propulsion prototype motor to the U.S. Navy.
This seems like significant progress towards HTS cable being a factor in the world of power transmission as well as other areas that can use this technology. I know the KERI SMES project will be interest to some of you, but note it is a 10 year project.
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