It is not uncommon these days to hear suggestions that direct-drive technology represents the future of wind turbines. It is a line of thought that should, by rights, unsettle gearbox manufacturers.
But rather than diversifying away from the wind business, Belgian gearbox giant Hansen Transmissions is doing the opposite. This month, it closed the sale of its industrial gearbox division to Japan's Sumitomo Heavy Industries, thereby becoming a pure-play wind company.
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