American Superconductor Corporation has announced its wholly owned subsidiary, Windtec, has signed a multi-million-dollar wind energy system joint development contract with Sinovel Wind Corporation Limited.

AMSC also has a prior delivery right to sell future electrical components under the same conditions as other suppliers to Sinovel for the wind energy systems covered under the contract. Under the terms of the new contract, Windtec and Sinovel will design and jointly develop 3 and 5MW wind energy systems that Sinovel plans to market and sell worldwide. Sinovel will have the exclusive ownership and complete industrial and intellectual property rights for large-scale onshore and offshore wind turbines developed under this contract, enabling the company to compete effectively with established leaders in the market. Based in Beijing, Sinovel plans to begin series production of 3MW systems during 2009 and 5MW systems the following year.