Former CEO of California transmission grid operator to help accelerate
adoption of new reactive power compensation solutions in transmission grids
WESTBOROUGH, Mass., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American
Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC), a leading electricity solutions
company, today announced that it has named electric power industry expert
Terry Winter to the newly created position of Executive Vice President,
Advanced Grid Solutions, to help accelerate the adoption of advanced reactive
power compensation solutions in transmission grids. AMSC's Advanced Grid
Solutions team provides a common interface for electric utilities and
transmission grid operators with the company's current and future grid
solutions.
Mr. Winter most recently was president and CEO of the California
Independent System Operator (ISO), a position he assumed in 1999. The
California ISO operates that state's wholesale power grid, and is responsible
for a transmission superhighway connecting energy suppliers extending from
Mexico to British Columbia for utilities serving more than 30 million
Californians. Prior to that Mr. Winter was the California ISO's chief
operating officer from 1997 to 1999. He assisted in developing operations and
oversaw the integration of the transmission systems of Southern California
Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric when the
California ISO assumed control of the state's open market transmission grid in
1998.
Previously, he was the Division Manager of San Diego Gas & Electric's
power operations. His 21-year career with SDG&E focused on power operations,
transmission engineering and project management. Leading up to his tenure
with SDG&E he worked on electrical transmission and distribution engineering
for Arizona's Salt River Project for 10 years.
Mr. Winter also was a member of the analysis team for the U.S.-Canada
Power System Outage Task Force that investigated causes and recommended
solutions in the aftermath of the blackout that robbed power from 50 million
people in the northeast last summer. For more information on Mr. Winter's
background, please see http://www.amsuper.com/aboutUs/management_team.html.
American Superconductor chairman and CEO Greg Yurek said creation of the
new position is part of an acceleration of the company's efforts to provide
advanced technologies, products and grid planning and analysis capabilities to
electric utilities and transmission grid operators. "Significant increases in
investment to improve the reliability and security of power transmission grids
in the U.S. and abroad are starting to occur," said Yurek. "By adding Terry,
we are continuing to strongly position our company to be a key player in this
growth environment."
"Terry is very knowledgeable, well known and highly respected in our
industry," said Terry Boston, executive vice president for transmission at the
Tennessee Valley Authority. "He's an operating- and engineering-oriented
individual who's learned the industry from the ground up and is considered one
of the country's experts in transmission grid operations and reactive
compensation solutions."
"Inadequate reactive power compensation is at the core of transmission
reliability problems, including unplanned and planned rolling power
blackouts," said Winter. "New dynamic voltage stability analysis capabilities
and advanced grid solutions provide the near-term opportunity to solve these
problems quickly and cost-effectively. Joining the AMSC team is the best way
I can contribute to solving these problems and to helping enhance the security
and reliability of the nation's power networks."
Winter noted that beyond the August 2003 northeast blackout, the industry
has witnessed multiple serious outages including one last year in Great
Britain, a nation-wide blackout in Italy and more recently in Athens, Greece,
just before the 2004 Olympic Games were set to begin. "Outside of the
industry, it has not been well understood that problems maintaining reactive
power levels, measured in VARs, are among the key causes in these high-profile
power failures, along with many smaller regional ones," he said. "As power
networks deal with increased electrical loads they operate closer and closer
to their dynamic voltage stability limits -- dramatically increasing the need
for dynamic reactive power solutions."
A substantial portion of AMSC's efforts regarding power grid solutions
have been in reactive power management, including D-VAR(R) and SuperVAR(TM)
reactive compensation systems and high capacity, controllable superconductor
power cable systems. Annual reactive compensation sales in the U.S. are
approximately $400 million today and are expected to grow significantly to
meet the industry's growing need to increase the reliability and security of
the country's power networks. To learn more about AMSC's reactive
compensation solutions, please see
http://www.amsuper.com/products/transmissionGrid/index.html.
About American Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC)
AMSC is a world-leading supplier of dynamic reactive power grid
stabilization products and the world's principal vendor of high temperature
superconductor (HTS) wire and large rotating superconductor machinery. AMSC's
power electronic converters and HTS wire 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, D-VAR and Revolutionizing the Way the World Uses
Electricity are trademarks of American Superconductor Corporation. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Any statements in this release about future expectations, plans and
prospects for the Company, including 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 cause actual results to differ materially from those
indicated by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include:
uncertainties regarding the Company's ability to obtain anticipated funding
from corporate and government contracts, to successfully develop, manufacture
and market commercial products, and to secure anticipated orders; the risk
that a robust market may not develop for the Company's products; the risk that
strategic alliances and other contracts may be terminated; the risk that
certain technologies utilized by the Company will infringe intellectual
property rights of others; and the competition encountered by the Company,
including several large Japanese companies. Reference is made to these and
other factors discussed in the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operation" section of the Company's most
recent quarterly or annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press
release represent the Company's views 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 this press release is issued.
SOURCE American Superconductor Corporation
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Related links:
http://www.amsuper.com
CONTACT:
Media: Jack Jackson of On-Message Public
Relations, +1-781-444- 1020, jack@on-message.com; or Investors:
Kevin Bisson of American Superconductor, +1-508-621-4220,
investor@amsuper.com
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