The American Superconductor Corp (AMSC) has licensed wind turbine technology to Taiwan's TECO Electric & Machinery Co to jointly explore the wind power markets in the US, Taiwan and China, a newspaper said on Saturday. // dpa
AMSC and TECO signed the deal in Taipei Friday, the Taipei Times said.
Under the deal TECO, a home appliance and telecommunications equipment maker, will obtain the technology from AMSC to manufacture FC2000 wind turbine systems capable of generating 2 million watts of electricity.
TECO will start making the generators in the US, Taiwan and China next year and sell the products in those markets.
Several foreign firms have already installed wind turbines in Taiwan, but TECO is the first Taiwan company to obtain the technology to produce wind turbine systems and key components.
TECO Chairman Liu Chao-kai was quoted by the Taipei Times as saying the wind energy market was full of potential and TECO hoped to play a role in expanding the sector's horizons over the next 20 years.
AMSC is a leading global designer and maker of wind energy equipment and components.
TECO estimated that the technological partnership with AMSC would enable TECO to win a market share worth more than 300 billion Taiwan dollars (9.89 billion US dollars) in Taiwan, China and Southeast Asia.
Liu said Taiwan aims to install 1,000 wind turbines by 2015 - a goal that translates into a business potential of 120 billion Taiwan dollars (3.7 billion US dollars) if each 2 million-watt generator is priced at 120 million Taiwan dollars (3.7 million US dollars).
The outlook is positive in China, too, Liu said. Last year China installed wind turbine systems with a total output of 6 billion watts, which it plans to upgrade to 100 billion watts by 2020.
"That means China will need to install 47,000 wind turbine generators in the next 13 years - a huge business potential," he said.