American Superconductor Corporation

Shares of American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC) dropped 44% this week after the company announced Tuesday that Sinovel Wind Group Company Limited, AMSC’s largest customer which accounts for about three-quarters of its annual revenue, would not accept shipments until it reduced its inventory levels and refused to make payments for some shipments made in this fiscal year. 

Power technology company American Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC) said today it will acquire The Switch Engineering OY, based in Finland, for €190 million in cash and AMSC shares ($265.43 million at today’s 1.00 EUR = 1.40 USD). 

OTHER NEWS: Solazyme Files IPO, BP Boosts Brazilian Ethanol Production 

Shares of smart grid and wind turbine technology company American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC) were trading up more than seven percent at mid-day after announcing nine-month financial results -- including tripled profits year over year -- and increasing guidance for Fiscal 2010 net income by 10 percent.

Another week and another report on the prospects for commercial algae-based biofuels. 

• Last week, research/marketing consulting firm Pike Research, based in Boulder, Colorado, predicted that 61 million gallons of algae-based biofuels per year at a market value of $1.3 billion ($21 a gallon) would be produced by 2020. 

• On Tuesday, the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) in Berkeley, California, funded by BP plc (NYSE: BP), conjured a scenario in which algae-based oil could be produced at $5.71 to $7.86 per gallon.

The lazy, hazy days of summer are behind us .The clean energy sector beat the broader market indices over the past three months -- led by a handful of solar companies and a few stalwart energy efficiency companies.

All data below is based on Friday’s pre-Labor Day Weekend close.

Two companies offer investors the most direct participation in the race to develop the world’s first 10 megawatt (MW) offshore wind turbines  --  American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC) and Clipper Windpower pls (LON:

Part Two

A Norwegian group led by wind turbine company Sway AS and funded by the Norwegian government and industrial pillars of that country’s economy is in the lead to build the first operating prototype of a 10 megawatt (MW) wind turbine. 

The most radical of the four designs proposed for the world’s first 10 megawatt wind turbine is this vertical-axis Aerogenerator X from UK company Wind Power Limited. 

Part One

American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC), whose share price is down 32 percent year to date despite strong revenue and profit growth over the past two quarters,