The wind turbine components will be deployed by Sinovel’s 3 MW wind turbines, the SL3000. AMSC expects to begin shipping sets of core components under the new contract in March 2010 and to complete all shipments by end 2011.

With a 300 ft rotor diameter and tower height, Sinovel’s SL3000 is said to be China’s most powerful domestically produced wind turbine. Sinovel has already erected several 3 MW turbines off the coast of Shanghai for the Shanghai Donghai Bridge Wind Farm, China’s first off-shore wind farm.

"Over the course of the past four years, Sinovel has transformed from start-up mode into China’s largest wind turbine manufacturer,” said Greg Yurek, founder and chief executive officer of AMSC. “This success was achieved through the production of thousands of 1.5 MW wind turbines. Sinovel is now exhibiting its technology leadership by entering volume production of its SL3000 wind turbines. We at AMSC are proud to be supporting Sinovel’s 1.5 MW and 3 MW platforms and look forward to the launch of the company’s 5 MW wind turbines in the not-too-distant future.”

This is the second order AMSC has received from Sinovel for 3 MW core electrical wind turbine components and follows an US$18mn contract that was signed in early 2008. AMSC’s core electrical components include the company’s PowerModule™ PM3000W power converter.

At the end of 2008, China had an installed wind power capacity of approximately 12 GW.  In its June 2009 report, industry research firm Emerging Energy Research projected that China’s wind power installed base would exceed 200 GW by 2020. Sinovel expects to be the world’s fifth largest wind turbine manufacturer by the end of 2009.