ZF Wind Power Antwerpen is a business unit of

ZF Friedrichshafen ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, originally ''Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen'' (), and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a Germany, German technology manufacturing company that supplies systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles ...

, that designs, manufactures and supplies

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

gearboxes.

History

The company was founded in 1923 in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

under the name La Mécanique Générale (LMG). The company soon focused on the manufacturing of specialized transmission units, under engineer David Hansen. In 1939 the company moved to

Edegem Edegem (, first mentioned as ''Buizegem'' in 1173) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality only comprises the town of Edegem proper. In 2021, Edegem had a total population of 22,244. The total area is 8.65&n ...

, to ensure there was sufficient room for future expansions. In 1950, Hansen founded the subsidiary Machinery & Gear Hansen (MGH). LMG and MGH merged in 1966, and in 1972 it was renamed to Hansen Transmissions International (HTI). From 1979, the company increasingly focused on the supply of gearboxes to the growing wind energy generation sector. After a series of takeovers in the period after 1966, Hansen Transmissions was acquired on March 17, 2006, by

Suzlon Energy Suzlon Energy is an Indian multinational wind turbine manufacturer headquartered in Pune. History Tulsi Tanti was a Gujarati businessman managing a small textile company. Due to the erratic availability of local power and its rising cost, ...

through its subsidiary, AE-Rotor Holding BV, for €465 million in cash from Allianz Capital Partners and

Apax Partners Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of March 2024, the firm had raised and adv ...

. The transaction was the second largest foreign acquisition by an Indian company to date. The rationale of the acquisition was to secure access to the crucial supply of gearboxes for the wind turbine manufacturer. Hansen hoped to benefit from the regional knowledge and expertise of

in its expansions in India. Yet Suzlon subsequently struggled with a high debt burden. In December 2007, Hansen transmission was listed on the London Stock exchange. Suzlon continued to sell pieces of Hansen Transmissions in the years that followed, most notably in November 2009, selling a 35.22% share to repay an outstanding acquisition loan facility. The remaining share of Suzlon in Hansen was 26.1%, making it the largest shareholder. In September 2011 it was acquired by

AG, and in December 2011 the company was renamed to ZF Wind Power Antwerpen (Belgium). In December 2015, ZF took over the wind turbine gearbox segment of

Bosch Rexroth Bosch Rexroth AG is an engineering firm based in Lohr am Main in Germany. It is the result of a merger on 1 May 2001, between Mannesmann Rexroth AG and the Automation Technology Business Unit of Robert Bosch GmbH, and is a wholly owned subsid ...

. ZF Wind Power Antwerpen currently operates six manufacturing plants with an annual output capacity of approximately 16,000 MW. The company manufactures in Belgium, India, Germany, the US and China. Today ZF is one of the leading providers of innovative wind power gear boxes with a global market share of ~25%.

References

External links

* {{official website Wind power in Belgium Manufacturing companies of Belgium Engineering companies of Belgium Wind turbine manufacturers Companies based in Antwerp Province 1923 establishments in Belgium Belgian companies established in 1923 Manufacturing companies established in 1923 Renewable resource companies established in 1923