Devens, Mass.-based American Superconductor (Nasdaq: AMSC) has made a deal to license the design for one of its wind turbines to Taipei, Taiwan's Teco Electric & Machinery.

Under the terms of the contract, Teco will receive a license to manufacture American Superconductor's FC-2000, a 2 megawatt high wind speed turbine.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but American Superconductor said it would receive a multi-million dollar upfront license fee, as well as royalty payments for wind turbines produced by Teco.

"Wind power is one of the fastest growing and most lucrative business opportunities today in Taiwan," said Zhaokai Liu, president of Teco.

"With decades of manufacturing experience, including the production of wind turbines, Teco aims to become Taiwan's leading wind turbine manufacturer and a major supplier for China."

Last October, American Superconductor and Teco-Westinghouse Motor, a subsidiary of Teco, announced a wind generator research joint venture (see American Superconductor, Teco in wind generator project).

Under that project, the companies said they would develop high temperature superconductor and related technologies for high-power, direct drive generators for offshore wind farms.

With this latest agreement, American Superconductor said it has a right of first refusal to provide the full electrical systems and core electrical components for all of the wind turbines manufactured by Teco.

Teco has purchased the right to manufacture and sell the FC-2000 wind turbine in Taiwan and to also sell the turbine to wind farm developers in mainland China.

American Superconductor said Teco plans to start manufacturing the 2 MW wind turbines in 2009.

Earlier this year, American Superconductor made its first move into India, licensing one of its wind turbine designs to Ghodawat Industries (see American Superconductor moves into Indian market).

Ghodawat, part of the diversified Maharashtra, India-based Sanjay Ghodawat Group, received an exclusive license for the Windtec WT1650 turbine for sale to certain countries in the Middle East, Southern Asia and Africa.