-Industry First Distribution SVC Employing All Standard Components in a Pad-Mounted Configuration
-Solution Protects Customers from Costly Power Quality Issues and Outages

DEVENS, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 10, 2009-- American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC), a leading energy technologies company, today announced that it has received an order from Southern California Edison, an Edison International company (NYSE: EIX), for its pad-mounted Distribution Static VAR Compensator (“dSVC”) solution. Southern California Edison (SCE) will utilize AMSC’s dSVC solution in its “Circuit of the Future,” a nationally-recognized project that employs leading-edge technology to deliver power to 1,420 residential and business customers located in southern California’s Inland Empire. AMSC

will deliver the solution to SCE by the summer of 2009.

A member of AMSC’s Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) family, the dSVC solution not only produces dynamic reactive power compensation to maintain constant voltage, but also provides protection against voltage sags and flicker. The Smart Grid product enables utilities to affordably bring proven SVC transmission-level quality of service to distribution-level circuits for the first time, making it a key tool for modernizing power grids worldwide. With the ability to dynamically adjust its output in real time, the dSVC solution acts much faster than conventional capacitor banks and voltage regulators, mitigating the power quality issues that inconvenience area homes and can cost commercial and industrial customers millions of dollars in lost productivity.

SCE provides power to a total of 13 million people located in its 50,000 square-mile service territory. The utility is leading initiatives in the three “Smart Grid” technology areas of transmission, distribution and customer metering. AMSC will provide SCE with customized SVC controls to be deployed in its “Circuit of the Future” to provide improved voltage regulation for all of its retail electric customers while simultaneously delivering significant protection against major voltage sags.

“A spin-off from our larger-scale transmission SVC, our dSVC solution allows electric utilities to optimize power delivery directly at the grid’s critical load-serving points by automatically adjusting the reactive power supply in real time to meet their customers’ ever-changing electricity demands,” said Timothy Poor, AMSC’s Vice President of Global Sales and Business Development. “Made possible solely with AMSC’s unique thyristor valve design and proprietary controls technology, the product’s novel pad-mounted construction is a breakthrough in compact SVC design that allows this FACTS technology to be applied outside of substations in areas previously considered impractical, such as underground distribution circuits. We are pleased to have SCE as a first adopter of this unique technology.”

AMSC added its family of Static VAR Compensator (SVC) solutions to its product suite through the acquisition of Pennsylvania-based Power Quality Systems, Inc. (PQS) in 2007. Combining PQS’s proprietary thyristor switch technology with AMSC’s advanced controls technology created the highly scalable SVC Smart Grid solution that is being utilized by electric utilities at both distribution and transmission voltages as well as industrial customers. In addition to the company’s dSVC solution, AMSC offers turnkey transmission SVC solutions able to handle several hundred megaVAR of reactive compensation for wide area transmission voltage stability; as well as smaller SVC offerings for industrial facilities that routinely operate large motors, metal shredders, crushers, pumps and pipelines.

For more information about AMSC’s dSVC solution, visit http://www.amsc.com/dsvc.html

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 alternative 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.

American Superconductor and design, Revolutionizing the Way the World Uses Electricity, AMSC, Powered by AMSC, D-VAR, dSVC, PowerModule, PQ-IVR, Secure Super Grids, Windtec and SuperGEAR 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. The Windtec logo and design is a registered European Union Community Trademark.

Any statements in this release about future expectations, plans and prospects for the company, including our expectations regarding the future financial performance of the company 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 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 the increasingly uncertain global economic conditions could result in customers delaying or reducing purchases of our products; 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. Reference is made to these and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" 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

American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC)
Jason Fredette, 978-842-3177
Director of Investor & Media Relations
jfredette@amsc.com