AMSC's 344S Superconductors Utilized by Hyundai Heavy Industries to Successfully Develop Commercial Grade Fault Current Limiter.

World Record Performance Ratings Achieved for Fault Current Levels

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. -- American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC), a leading energy technologies company, announced today that Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (Hyundai) has achieved world record performance levels for fault current limiters (FCL), which it developed utilizing AMSC's 344S superconductors. Fault current limiters act as high-voltage surge protectors for power grids to increase reliability and overall efficiency in the operation of power grids.

Hyundai, headquartered in South Korea, began development of its FCL in late 2004 in partnership with Yonsei University, located in Seoul, South Korea. Hyundai successfully developed a 13.2kV/630A FCL using superconducting coils fabricated with AMSC's 344S superconductors.

"This important advance in the development of fault current limiters would not have been possible without AMSC's 344S superconductors," says Dr. Bok-Yeol Seok, principle researcher of the FCL project, Hyundai Heavy Industries. "We see tremendous opportunities for FCLs in the near term and are pursuing this market aggressively. We will continue our development efforts and now have our sights set on producing 30 to 60 kV FCLs for distribution systems as well as 154 kV FCLs for transmission voltage levels."

The capacity of Hyundai's FCL is 8.3 megavolt amperes (8.3MVA). The device operated at a voltage of 13.2 kilovolts (kV), which corresponds to a three-phase power equipment voltage class of 22.9kV, a new world record for fault current limiters. The test was first conducted in December 2006 at the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI). The FCL achieved an AC withstand voltage of 143 kilovolts (kV), nearly three times higher than the 50 kV goal of the project. This provides Hyundai with considerable momentum as it moves into the third phase of the South Korean government's FCL development program. The FCL program in South Korea is funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology through the Development of Advanced Power systems by Applied Superconductivity technologies (DAPAS) program.

"Our 344S superconductors are paving the way for partners and customers as they work to bring fault current limiters to the market," said Angelo Santamaria, vice president and general manager, AMSC Wires. "Utilities around the world have been waiting for a solution that can suppress current surges and protect their power grids. Thanks to the work being done by companies like Hyundai, that wait is nearly over."

Hyundai is one of eight companies worldwide developing FCLs based on AMSC's proprietary 344S superconductors. 344S superconductors are smart materials because they possess unique physical properties that allow them to conduct electricity with no resistance under normal operating conditions, while also being able to recognize and then instantaneously suppress large surges of electrical current by switching to the resistive state. Suppressing spikes of electrical current is important because it prevents damage to expensive electrical equipment in power grids.

About Hyundai Heavy Industries

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd (HHI) is one of the world's leading industrial companies, with 26,000 employees and net sales of USD$13.4 billion in the fiscal year 2006. HHI is also the world's number one shipbuilder and the world's largest builder of two-stroke diesel engines for ship propulsion and power generation. Today, HHI has established itself as an integrated heavy industries company organized into six business divisions: Shipbuilding, Offshore & Engineering, Industrial Plant & Engineering, Engine & Machinery, Electro Electric Systems, and Construction Equipment. HHI's Electro-Electric Systems Division is Korea's leading business unit in the heavy electric power sector which provides the world market with transformers, switch gears, rotating machines and power conversion systems. The division is expanding its business into new environmentally-friendly energy markets such as photovoltaic generation system and is also seeking out new business opportunities through R&D commitments, including superconducting electric power machinery. More information is available at www.hhi.co.kr.

About AMSC

AMSC (American Superconductor Corporation - NASDAQ: AMSC) is a leading energy technologies company. The company develops and sells a wide range of products and solutions based on power electronic systems and high temperature superconductor (HTS) wires that dramatically improve the efficiency and quality of electricity during its generation, transmission, distribution and use. The company is a dominant force in alternative energy, offering grid interconnection solutions as well as licensed wind energy designs and electrical systems. As the world's principal supplier of HTS wire, AMSC is enabling a new generation of compact, high-power electrical products, including motors, generators, power cables, grid-level surge protectors, and advanced transportation and defense systems. AMSC also provides utility and industrial customers worldwide with voltage regulation systems that dramatically enhance power grid capacity, reliability and security, as well as industrial productivity. The company'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.amsuper.com.

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