Bosch Thermotechnology is to invest in a new production hall in Wettringen to boost its total annual production capacity to 350,000 solar collectors.
 
The flat collectors, which use solar heat for domestic water heating and heating support, are marketed under Bosch Thermotechnology's international and regional brands such as Buderus and Junkers.
 
The company shared that 200,000 high-performance collectors per year can be produced at Wettringen from next year.
 
The capacity expansion by 50,000 collectors will be enabled by a new production hall that is currently being built by Bosch Solarthermie GmbH, which operated under the name of Solar Diamant Systemtechnik GmbH until June this year. An amount of roughly EUR 5 million will be invested in Wettringen.
 
It also produces solar thermal systems at its plant in Aveiro, Portugal, which has an annual production capacity of up to 150,000 collectors.
 
The capacity expansion in Wettringen will strengthen Bosch Thermotechnology's Renewable Energies unit and boost its total production capacity to 350,000 collectors per year.
 
Based on a surface of approximately 2.4 square metres per collector, this is equivalent to some 800,000 square metres of collector surface per year. Renewable energy systems accounted for 12 percent of the Bosch subsidiary's total 2007 sales revenues. This share is projected to increase to 30 percent by the year 2015.
 
In fiscal 2007, the company generated sales of approx. EUR 2.8 billion (69 percent outside Germany).