With the official opening of its new plant in Nuremberg at the end of April, Bosch has given the start signal for the second Bosch Rexroth manufacturing facility for large wind-turbine gearboxes in Germany.
Up to 2013, Bosch will invest a total of 180 million euros in its subsidiary’s gearbox plant. Apart from the lead plant in Witten, this is the second manufac-turing facility for large wind-turbine gearboxes in Germany. “With this new plant for the manufacture of large gearboxes, we are continuing our investments in the promising market for renewable energies,” Franz Fehrenbach, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH, said. “In the medium-to-long term, the wind-power market has good potential for growth, and even when times are difficult, we expand our activities in markets that offer a wealth of opportunities.”
The production of planetary wheels and hollow wheels for gears was already rolled out in Nuremberg in January. And since March, large gearboxes have been assembled at a plant covering the surface of five football fields. In roll-out year 2009, the plant’s currently 280 associates will manufacture some 300 large gearboxes for the latest generation of multi-megawatt turbines. The Bosch Group has been present in Nuremberg since the end of the 1950’s, and currently employs roughly 2,950 associates there.
In 2009, negative economic developments have also affected the wind-power industry, and braked growth considerably. “However, all the long-term forecasts continue to predict global growth for the wind-power market. As the world's largest independent supplier of gearboxes and automation solutions for wind turbines, Bosch Rexroth will benefit from this market development,” said Reiner Leipold-Büttner, Member of the Executive Board, responsible for Engineering and Manufacturing at Bosch Rexroth AG. In this context, he referred to the manufacturing facility that went into operation in Beijing, China, last year. In 2008, the U.S. became the country to install by far the most new wind-power output, and has now surpassed Germany as the leading country for wind-power utilization. Encouraged by comprehensive incentive schemes, the U.S. market will continue to grow rapidly. “In the near future, we also intend to set up a local presence in the U.S.,” Leipold-Büttner said. Both China and India are making great efforts to expand wind power, and are catching up rapidly. The Global Wind Energy Council forecasts that installed wind-power output will triple by 2013.
