At some EUR 5.9 billion, Bosch Rexroth AG's sales for 2008 were up 9.8 percent on the previous year. Gearboxes and drive solutions for wind energy plants recorded the highest rates of growth. "The global push to expand facilities for generating renewable forms of energy is having a stimulating effect on our business," Dr. Albert Hieronimus, Chairman of the Executive Board of Bosch Rexroth AG, pointed out at the annual press conference in Frankfurt. Bosch Rexroth is increasing its production capacities for wind power gearboxes with a new plant in Nuremberg and the expansion of production at the Chinese site in Beijing. The American, Chinese and Indian governments are all promoting the rapid expansion of wind power plants to protect themselves from rising energy costs and reduce CO
2 emissions. Bosch Rexroth intends to participate in this market growth by providing the markets with gearboxes and drive solutions.
Renewable energy systems such as electric heat pumps and solar systems also increased strongly at Bosch Thermotechnology. "The increased global demand for these resource-efficient heating technologies was the main driver of our growth in 2008," said Uwe Glock, President of the Bosch Thermotechnology Division at the presentation of the company's figures at the ISH fair in Frankfurt. Bosch Thermotechnology reported the strongest growth in America – in spite of the economic downturn – which was mainly driven by rising demand for energy-efficient electric heat pumps in the USA. Totally Bosch Thermotechnology grew 7 percent in 2008. Total sales in Germany were up by 12 percent on the previous year. The federal government's market incentive programme led to record sales, especially in the solar thermal sector. By 2015, Bosch Thermotechnology aims to generate 30 percent of its sales with products harnessing renewable energies.
In addition, Bosch Thermotechnology will push ahead the launch of new, innovative heating technologies such as micro co-generation. The company plans to test an electricity-generating heater based on Stirling technology in a field test involving 500 devices in several European countries already in 2009. When using decentralized energy generation with Stirling technology, virtually all the waste heat from electricity generation is used to heat the residential building, achieving an overall efficiency of up to 95 percent. This also means low CO2 emissions. Mass production is scheduled to start in 2011.
