HANSEN TRANSMISSIONS DELIVERS HIGH QUALITY 6 MW GEARBOXES FOR CHINA’S FIRST 6 MW WIND TURBINE

Beijing, China - Kontich, Belgium - 20 October 2011 – Hansen Transmissions International NV is pleased to announce the first deliveries of high quality 6 MW gearboxes for China’s first 6 MW wind turbine.

Spearheading a new era of wind energy development in China, Hansen Transmissions has officially delivered its first made-for-China 6 MW gearboxes for the Sinovel SL 6000, the largest and most powerful wind turbine ever built in the People’s Republic of China.

The new Hansen Transmissions gearbox is especially suited for offshore use, and was designed and engineered by Hansen Transmissions in close cooperation with Sinovel, for the SL 6000 wind turbine, which has a 6 MW capacity.

Hansen Transmissions is a global leader in high precision transmission technology with almost 90 years of experience and a strong reputation for high quality, reliability and durability.

The design of the new gearbox is based on Hansen’s proven technology. Hansen Transmissions already has a significant number of multi-megawatt gearboxes in operation and the company’s design experience, engineering know-how and product lifecycle management were combined to create a robust, compact and easy-to-service gearbox.

The new gearbox has a number of ocean-specific features including an adapted lubrication, increased safeties on structural components, special bearing technologies and a more powerful cooling system. The gearbox is designed for increased serviceability and advanced condition monitoring.

With the delivery of this new gearbox in the Chinese market, Hansen has proven that it can support OEM’s all over the world with customized solutions up to 6.15 MW and beyond, prototypes as well as serial production.

Hansen Transmissions CEO, Alex De Ryck, said: “Hansen Transmissions is a pioneer in wind energy generation and we offer a deep understanding of wind energy requirements, strong products and product development programmes and a focus on reliability and overall efficiency. Moreover, we are totally committed to excellence and reliability.

“We believe in the future growth and sustainability of wind energy in China. It is for this reason that Hansen Transmissions is making substantial investments in China. We have already established a significant assembly and testing facility. We are on schedule to establish a fully fledged business set-up, which will include the most modern and precise manufacturing technologies, an extensive R&D team, technical support and business development.”

Alex De Ryck concluded: “We want to be the most experienced and reliable partner for multi-megawatt gearboxes in China and throughout the world.”

About Hansen Transmissions offshore gearboxes

Hansen wind turbine gearboxes have been installed in offshore wind parks for more than 10 years. Today more than 39% of offshore turbines around the world are equipped with Hansen gearboxes (source: BTM Report – March 2011 and company estimates).

Hansen Transmissions offshore gearboxes are designed for multi-megawatts turbines from 3.0 MW to 6.15 MW – with no upper limitation in size and capacity. They have a light and compact design and the structural components are optimized in shape to keep the stress low for the fatigue and extreme loads. All components have to fulfill an internal robustness check. The applied robustness are beyond the specification and based on the long term experiences of Hansen.

The application of Hansen Transmissions bearing technology ensures that the gearbox is designed to withstand even high dynamic loads and gearbox dynamic load tests are performed on overload dynamic load test rigs. Lifetime tests are performed with Hansen’s developed Highly Accelerated Lifetime Test (HALT) technology.

By using the latest machining technology for the production of the wind turbine gearboxes Hansen Transmissions has the capability to perform all production steps in-house to guarantee the highest quality standards.