The FCL development and testing was done as part of a project
cost-shared by industry partners and sponsored by the U.S. Department of
Energy and was aimed at accelerating the modernization of the U.S.
electricity grid using superconductor technology. Nexans, Siemens and
AMSC jointly designed, developed and tested the FCL. It features a
proprietary Siemens-developed, low inductance coil technology that makes
the FCL invisible to the grid until it switches to a resistive state.
Nexans designed and built the high-voltage terminations and their
connections to the FCL module in the cryostat. AMSC provided its
proprietary Amperium™ HTS wire for the system.
About
American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC)
AMSC offers an array of proprietary technologies and solutions spanning
the electric power infrastructure - from generation to delivery to end
use. The company is a leader in
renewable
energy, providing proven, megawatt-scale wind turbine designs and
electrical control systems. The company also offers a host of
Smart
Grid technologies for power grid operators that enhance the
reliability, efficiency and capacity of the grid, and seamlessly
integrate renewable energy sources into the power infrastructure. These
include superconductor power cable systems, grid-level surge protectors
and power electronics-based voltage stabilization systems. AMSC's
technologies are protected by a broad and deep intellectual property
portfolio consisting of hundreds of patents and licenses worldwide. More
information is available at
www.amsc.com.
About
Nexans
With energy as the basis of its development, Nexans, a worldwide leading
expert in the cable industry, offers an extensive range of cables and
cabling systems. The Group is a global player in the infrastructure,
industry, building and Local Area Network markets. Nexans addresses a
series of market segments: from energy, transport and telecom networks
to shipbuilding, oil and gas, nuclear power, automotives, electronics,
aeronautics, material handling and automation. Nexans is a responsible
industrial company that regards sustainable development as integral to
its global and operational strategy. Continuous innovation in products,
solutions and services, employee development and engagement, and the
introduction of safe industrial processes with limited environmental
impact are among the key initiatives that place Nexans at the core of a
sustainable future. With an industrial presence in 40 countries and
commercial activities worldwide, Nexans employs 23,700 people and had
sales in 2010 of more than 6 billion euros. Nexans is listed on NYSE
Euronext Paris, compartment A. For more information, please consult
www.nexans.com
or
http://www.nexans.mobi.
About
Siemens
Siemens AG is a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical
engineering, operating in the industry, energy and healthcare sectors.
For over 160 years, Siemens has stood for technological excellence,
innovation, quality, reliability and internationality. The company is
the world's largest provider of environmental technologies. More than
one-third of its total revenue stems from green products and solutions.
In fiscal 2010, which ended on September 30, 2010, revenue from
continuing operations (excluding Osram and Siemens IT Solutions and
Services) totaled €69 billion and net income from continuing operations
€4.3 billion. At the end of September 2010, Siemens had around 336,000
employees worldwide on the basis of continuing operations. Further
information is available on the Internet at:
http://www.siemens.com.
American Superconductor and design, Revolutionizing the Way the World
Uses Electricity, AMSC, Powered by AMSC, Amperium, D-VAR, dSVC,
FaultBlocker, PowerModule, PowerPipelines, PQ-IVR, PQ-SVC, SeaTitan,
SolarTie, SuperGEAR and Windtec and design are trademarks or registered
trademarks of American Superconductor Corporation or its subsidiaries.
All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their
respective holders.
Any statements in this release about future expectations, plans and
prospects for the company, including without limitation our expectations
regarding the recognition of revenue associated with the new contracts
and other 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 materially impact the value of our common stock or cause
actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such
forward-looking statements. Such factors include: a significant portion
of our revenues has been derived from Sinovel Wind Group Co. Ltd.,
(“Sinovel”), which has stopped accepting scheduled deliveries and
refused to pay amounts outstanding; the disruption in our relationship
with Sinovel has materially and adversely affected our business and
results of operations and if, as we expect, Sinovel continues to refuse
to accept shipments from us, our business and results of operations will
be further materially and adversely affected; we will require
significant additional funding and may be unable to raise capital when
needed, which could force us to delay, reduce or eliminate planned
activities, including the planned acquisition of The Switch Engineering
Oy (“The Switch”); we have a history of operating losses, and we may
incur additional losses in the future; our operating results may
fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and may fall below
expectations in any particular fiscal quarter; if we fail to complete
the planned acquisition of The Switch, our operating results and
financial condition could be harmed and the price of our common stock
could decline; completion of the planned acquisition of The Switch could
present certain risks to our business; adverse changes in domestic and
global economic conditions could adversely affect our operating results;
changes in exchange rates could adversely affect our results from
operations; we have identified material weaknesses in our internal
control over financial reporting and if we fail to remediate these
weaknesses and maintain proper and effective internal controls over
financial reporting, our ability to produce accurate and timely
financial statements could be impaired and may lead investors and other
users to lose confidence in our financial data; if we fail to implement
our business strategy successfully, our financial performance could be
harmed; we may not realize all of the sales expected from our backlog of
orders and contracts; many of our revenue opportunities are dependent
upon subcontractors and other business collaborators; our products face
intense competition, which could limit our ability to acquire or retain
customers; our success is dependent upon attracting and retaining
qualified personnel and our inability to do so could significantly
damage our business and prospects; we may acquire additional
complementary businesses or technologies, which may require us to incur
substantial costs for which we may never realize the anticipated
benefits; our international operations are subject to risks that we do
not face in the United States, which could have an adverse effect on our
operating results; we depend on sales to customers in China, and global
conditions could negatively affect our operating results or limit our
ability to expand our operations outside of China; changes in China’s
political, social, regulatory and economic environment may affect our
financial performance; many of our customer relationships outside of the
United States are, either directly or indirectly, with governmental
entities, and we could be adversely affected by violations of the United
States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-bribery
laws outside the United States; we rely upon third party suppliers for
the components and subassemblies of many of our Wind and Grid products,
making us vulnerable to supply shortages and price fluctuations, which
could harm our business; we are becoming increasingly reliant on
contracts that require the issuance of performance bonds; problems with
product quality or product performance may cause us to incur warranty
expenses and may damage our market reputation and prevent us from
achieving increased sales and market share; our success in addressing
the wind energy market is dependent on the manufacturers that license
our designs; growth of the wind energy market depends largely on the
availability and size of government subsidies and economic incentives;
there are a number of technological challenges that must be successfully
addressed before our superconductor products can gain widespread
commercial acceptance, and our inability to address such technological
challenges could adversely affect our ability to acquire customers for
our products; we have not manufactured our Amperium wire in commercial
quantities, and a failure to manufacture our Amperium wire in commercial
quantities at acceptable cost and quality levels would substantially
limit our future revenue and profit potential; the commercial uses of
superconductor products are limited today, and a widespread commercial
market for our products may not develop; we have limited experience in
marketing and selling our superconductor products and system-level
solutions, and our failure to effectively market and sell our products
and solutions could lower our revenue and cash flow; our contracts with
the U.S. government are subject to audit, modification or termination by
the U.S. government and include certain other provisions in favor of the
government; the continued funding of such contracts remains subject to
annual congressional appropriation which, if not approved, could reduce
our revenue and lower or eliminate our profit; we may be unable to
adequately prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary
information; we have filed a demand for arbitration and other lawsuits
against Sinovel regarding amounts we contend are due and owing and are
in dispute; we cannot be certain as to the outcome of the proceedings
against Sinovel; we have been named as a party to purported stockholder
class actions and shareholder derivative complaints, and we may be named
in additional litigation, all of which will require significant
management time and attention, result in significant legal expenses and
may result in an unfavorable outcome, which could have a material
adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial
condition; our technology and products could infringe intellectual
property rights of others, which may require costly litigation and, if
we are not successful, could cause us to pay substantial damages and
disrupt our business; our patents may not provide meaningful protection
for our technology, which could result in us losing some or all of our
market position; third parties have or may acquire patents that cover
the materials, processes and technologies we use or may use in the
future to manufacture our Amperium products, and our success depends on
our ability to license such patents or other proprietary rights; and our
common stock has experienced, and may continue to experience,
significant market price and volume fluctuations, which may prevent our
stockholders from selling our common stock at a profit and could lead to
costly litigation against us that could divert our management’s
attention. Reference is made to many of these factors and others in the
“Risk Factors” section of the company’s most recent quarterly or annual
report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition,
any forward-looking statements included in this release represent the
company’s expectations 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 of this release.
