ZF Wind Power, which is a part of the ZF group and makes wind turbine gear boxes, will expand its annual gear box manufacturing capacity at the Coimbatore plant to 12 GW from the current nine GW.
The plant in Coimbatore, which is the largest one for ZF’s wind gearbox production in the world, excluding China, made 50 GW gearbox capacity in the last 15 years and plans to supply another 50 GW in the next five years.
The capacity addition in Coimbatore will be coupled with the installation of a 13 MW test rig, added Felix Henseler, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ZF Wind Power. The total investments in Coimbatore will be ₹450 crore for creating the additional capacity and it will be completed by the end of next year. “We are fully booked (for 12 GW),” he said.
The government has just announced its policy on repowering low capacity wind turbines and ZF can meet the demand when these projects are commissioned, said Mr. Pohekar.
ZF has supplied to offshore projects in other countries and has the capacity to do so in India when projects take off, added Peter Laier, Member of the Board of Management, ZF Group.
ZF also wants to expand the local supply and hence is asking some of its suppliers to invest in India, said Mr. Henseler.
