Houston, TX, UNITED STATES, May 17, 2010 - American Electric Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AETI), the premium supplier of end to end power generation to the grid electrical infrastructure solutions for wind, introduces at the American Wind Energy Association's Windpower Conference & Exposition fo

Houston, TX, UNITED STATES, May 17, 2010 - American Electric Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AETI), the premium supplier of end to end power generation to the grid electrical infrastructure solutions for wind, introduces at the American Wind Energy Association's Windpower Conference & Exposition for the first time, switchgear specifically designed to provide safer and higher performing wind power substation operation.

Wind Farm Substation Safety: A Growing Problem
In 2009, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration reported 32 arc flash accident investigations. Arc flashes, if left unmitigated, erupt and continue building into explosive forces that can tear apart switchgear enclosures. To prevent such destruction, conventional arc resistant switchgear attempts to channel these explosions through ducts away from the operator. But this does not mitigate the arc flash, and it severely compromises worker safety nearby the switchgear. Industry reports estimate that the average cost for medical treatment of an arc-flash survivor is $1.5 million, with costs of litigation reaching up to $10 million.

Arc Flash Mitigation Switchgear: A New Solution providing Safety as well as Performance
After delivering power distribution switchgear to the world's harshest environments for more than 60 years, AETI leads the industry in delivering Arc Flash Mitigation Switchgear that offers operations & maintenance safety as well as robust & reliable electrical performance.

Operations & Maintenance Safety
By including remote racking in the standard offering, maintenance workers can rack circuit breakers in & out from a safe distance away. In addition, an internal grounding switch enables the operator to ground cable feeds during maintenance, thereby reducing exposure to accidental electrical backfeed. Most significantly, AETI's uses proven light-sensing technology to detect the arc flash and command the circuit breaker to open and isolate the arc fault within 55 milliseconds. This keeps arc flash energy well under the threshold in which it becomes explosive and injurious.

Robust & Reliable Electrical Performance
AETI's switchgear operates up to 38 kV at 3000A continuous duty, enabling more power to be delivered per collector line to the grid. The switchgear also has a 40 kA interruption rating, enabling robust paralleling of more wind turbines per collector Iine. In addition, the switchgear's 150 kV BIL increases the substation's resilience to lightning strikes. And by using vacuum interrupter technology, the use of toxic SF6 gas and the costs of recharging are eliminated.

"We are pleased to bring the first arc flash mitigation switchgear to the wind industry," said John Skibinski, AETI vice president. "We are even prouder to significantly improve operator safety while providing greater electrical performance at very competitive product entry levels."

The company is exhibiting at the AWEA Windpower 2010 Conference & Exposition in Dallas May 23-26 at Booth 9650. Email John Skibinski at John Skibinski or call him at +1 (412) 478-4792 for more information regarding AETI's portfolio of electrical equipment & service solutions.

Press Contact:
John Skibinski
+1 (412) 478-4792
jskibinski@aeti.com