Westborough, Mass.-based American Superconductor (Nasdaq: AMSC) and Teco-Westinghouse Motor, headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, announced a $6.8 million wind generator research joint venture today.

Teco-Westinghouse Motor is a subsidiary of Taiwan's Teco Electric & Machinery.

The companies said the U.S. National Institute of Science and Technology's Advanced Technology Program is providing $3.4 million in funding for the research project.

American Superconductor and Teco-Westinghouse Motor plan to develop high temperature superconductor and related technologies for high-power, direct drive generators for offshore wind farms.

"The objective of the TWMC-AMSC research joint venture is to develop technologies that will enable the deployment of offshore 10 megawatt class, direct drive wind generators – double the power capacity of conventional systems," said Greg Yurek, American Superconductor founder and CEO.

The companies said direct drive wind generator systems utilizing high temperature superconductor wire instead of copper wire for the generator's rotor are expected to be much smaller, lighter and more efficient than conventional generators and gearboxes.

"HTS technology provides a new, powerful option for enabling large-scale offshore wind farms," said H.C. Meng, president of Teco-Westinghouse Motor.

The two firms plan to target 10 megawatt class wind generators with their research project. That's twice the power of generators currently being sold on the market.

The 30-month cost-shared research project is expected to enable the design and manufacture of ultra-low-speed, high torque generators that can are expected to produce full power at 6 kilovolts at 11 revolutions per minute.