Alliant Energy Chooses D-VAR VVO™ for Distribution Grid Voltage Optimization Project
AYER, Mass., May 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AMSC (NASDAQ:AMSC), a global energy solutions provider serving wind and power grid industry leaders, today announced the successful commissioning of AMSC’s D-VAR VVO™ system as part of Alliant Energy Corporation’s (Alliant Energy) voltage optimization and energy efficiency pilot program. Alliant Energy commissioned the D-VAR VVO™ system in its distribution grid in the state of Iowa.
“The distribution grid in Iowa was chosen as one of the pilot projects for D-VAR VVO™ due to the physical characteristics of challenged feeder lines in the region,” said Fred Johnston, Distributed Energy Planning Manager, Alliant Energy. “This project is expected to provide invaluable knowledge about managing the growing desire from our customers for the distribution of renewable energy and its impact on our equipment and power quality, while giving us the ability to utilize conservation voltage reduction for energy savings and peak demand reduction.”
“This project at Alliant Energy is providing critical knowledge and validation that the D-VAR VVO™, when deployed on distribution feeders, can not only improve power quality and distributed generation hosting capacity, but also has the potential to provide significant customer cost benefits when deployed as part of a utility’s conservation voltage reduction strategy,” said Daniel P. McGahn, President and CEO, AMSC. “This project is expected to quantify the energy savings benefits for our customers and expand our ability to support additional renewable generation directly on the distribution grid.”
AMSC’s D-VAR VVO™ pilot partners are established utilities that are experiencing rapid growth of renewable distributed generation (DG) and electric vehicle (EV) charging capacity within their distribution networks. Because both renewable distributed generation, such as rooftop and community solar power, and electric vehicle charging are inherently dynamic and variable in nature, utilities are now striving to enhance their distribution grid network’s capabilities to accommodate these new resources and customers, while maintaining efficiency and superior power quality. D-VAR VVO™ solutions offer precise and fast reactive power and voltage control to maintain utility power quality standards, while enabling growing interest in distributed generation and electric vehicles.
Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) is an increasingly widespread method used by electric utilities to increase efficiency and reduce peak electric loading on their system to reduce costs and improve reliability, with minimal impact on customers.
The D-VAR VVO™ helps utilities manage their power quality concerns and expands grid capacity for renewable DG and EVs. The D-VAR VVO™ equipment reacts seamlessly to EV-driven rapid load changes and clouds passing or changing wind speeds across the distribution grid, minimizing the impact on electrical equipment and customers, and helping utilities meet power quality standards even as more renewable DG and EVs come on-line. In addition, D-VAR VVO™ gives utilities the ability to enact widespread reduction in system voltages, on command, to execute CVR programs. The D-VAR VVO™ is designed to achieve all of this with no moving parts, a minimal number of installation sites, and virtually no maintenance requirements.
About AMSC (Nasdaq: AMSC) AMSC generates the ideas, technologies and solutions that meet the world's demand for smarter, cleaner … better energy™. Through its Windtec™ Solutions, AMSC provides wind turbine electronic controls and systems, designs and engineering services that reduce the cost of wind energy. Through its Gridtec™ Solutions, AMSC provides the engineering planning services and advanced grid systems that optimize network reliability, efficiency and performance. The Company's solutions are now powering gigawatts of renewable energy globally and are enhancing the performance and reliability of power networks in more than a dozen countries. Founded in 1987, AMSC is headquartered near Boston, Massachusetts with operations in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. For more information, please visit www.amsc.com.
About Alliant Energy Alliant Energy Corporation (NYSE:LNT), headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, provides regulated electric and natural gas service to 960,000 electric and 410,000 natural gas customers across Iowa and Wisconsin. Alliant Energy’s mission is to deliver the energy solutions and exceptional service customers and communities count on – safely, efficiently and responsibly. Interstate Power and Light Company and Wisconsin Power and Light Company are Alliant Energy’s two public utility subsidiaries. Alliant Energy Corporation is a component of the S&P 500 and trades under the symbol LNT. For more information, visit alliantenergy.com.
AMSC, Windtec, Gridtec, D-VAR VVO, and Smarter, Cleaner … Better Energy are trademarks or registered trademarks of American Superconductor Corporation. All other brand names, product names, trademarks, or service marks belong to their respective holders.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our expectations regarding functionality, performance and capabilities of the D-VAR VVO™, its benefits and other impacts on AMSC, utility grids and consumers, and AMSC’s related plans and goals; industry trends; and other statements containing the words “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “will” and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements represent management’s current expectations and are inherently uncertain. There are a number of important factors that could materially impact the value of our common stock or cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. These important factors include, but are not limited to: We have a history of operating losses and negative operating cash flows, which may continue in the future and require us additional financing in the future; Our operating results may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and may fall below expectations in any particular fiscal quarter; Our financial condition may have an adverse effect on our customer and supplier relationships; Our success is dependent upon attracting and retaining qualified personnel and our inability to do so could significantly damage our business and prospects; Failure to successfully execute the move of our Devens, Massachusetts manufacturing facility or achieve expected savings following any such move; We rely upon third-party suppliers for the components and sub-assemblies of many of our Wind and Grid products, making us vulnerable to supply shortages and price fluctuations; Many of our revenue opportunities are dependent upon subcontractors and other business collaborators; Our products face intense competition; Our success depends upon the commercial use of high temperature superconductor (“HTS”) products, which is currently limited, and a widespread commercial market for our products may not develop; [e] and our success depends on our ability to license such patents or other proprietary rights; We may not realize all of the sales expected from our backlog of orders and contracts; We have operations in and depend on sales in emerging markets, and global conditions could negatively affect our operating results or limit our ability to expand our operations outside of these countries; We face risks related to our intellectual property; We face risks related to our legal proceedings; and the important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in Part 1. Item 1A of our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017, and our other reports filed with the SEC. These important factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by forward-looking statements made herein and presented elsewhere by management from time to time. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
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