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Nature of the Business and Operations and Liquidity - Additional Information (Detail)	0 Months Ended		12 Months Ended				0 Months Ended				12 Months Ended
	Mar. 24, 2015	Nov. 13, 2014 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2015 USD ($) Employee	Mar. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2015 Subsequent Event USD ($)	Feb. 04, 2015 Ghodawat Energy Pvt Ltd USD ($)	Feb. 04, 2015 Ghodawat Energy Pvt Ltd EUR (€)	Aug. 29, 2014 Ghodawat Energy Pvt Ltd EUR (€)	Mar. 31, 2015 Ghodawat Energy Pvt Ltd EUR (€)
Description Of Business [Line Items]
Reverse stock split	0.1us-gaap_StockholdersEquityNoteStockSplitConversionRatio1	0.1us-gaap_StockholdersEquityNoteStockSplitConversionRatio1
Accumulated deficit			$ (905,045,000)us-gaap_RetainedEarningsAccumulatedDeficit	$ (856,389,000)us-gaap_RetainedEarningsAccumulatedDeficit
Cash and cash equivalents			20,490,000us-gaap_CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue	43,114,000us-gaap_CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue	39,243,000us-gaap_CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue	46,279,000us-gaap_CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue
Net cash used in operating activities			32,676,000us-gaap_NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivitiesContinuingOperations	13,267,000us-gaap_NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivitiesContinuingOperations	45,271,000us-gaap_NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivitiesContinuingOperations
Liability for damages										8,300,000us-gaap_LossContingencyDamagesAwardedValue / dei_LegalEntityAxis = amsc_GhodawatEnergyPvtLtdMember
Interest rate accrued on liability for damage										5.33%amsc_LossContingencyInterestRate / dei_LegalEntityAxis = amsc_GhodawatEnergyPvtLtdMember
Settlement amount			(8,987,000)us-gaap_LitigationSettlementAmount						7,450,000us-gaap_LitigationSettlementAmount / dei_LegalEntityAxis = amsc_GhodawatEnergyPvtLtdMember		7,450,000us-gaap_LitigationSettlementAmount / dei_LegalEntityAxis = amsc_GhodawatEnergyPvtLtdMember
Cash payments for legal settlements								8,400,000us-gaap_PaymentsForLegalSettlements / dei_LegalEntityAxis = amsc_GhodawatEnergyPvtLtdMember
Number of workforce persons			318dei_EntityNumberOfEmployees
Cash flows from financing activities			52,800,000us-gaap_NetCashProvidedByUsedInFinancingActivities	52,800,000us-gaap_NetCashProvidedByUsedInFinancingActivities	52,800,000us-gaap_NetCashProvidedByUsedInFinancingActivities
Proceeds from additional equity offering		$ 9,100,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromIssuanceOfCommonStock					$ 22,300,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromIssuanceOfCommonStock / us-gaap_SubsequentEventTypeAxis = us-gaap_SubsequentEventMember

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