Iselin, NJ, November 10, 2011 – TDK-EPC celebrated the opening of its second factory in Málaga, Spain. The new plant for the development and manufacture of power capacitors is located in the industrial park, Parque Tecnológico de Andalucía, and offers 6000 square meters of production space. A separate building with 1500 square meters of lab and office space houses the research and development activities. After a transitional period of one to two years all of TDK-EPC’s activities in Málaga will be concentrated in the new factory.
TDK-EPC serves important growth markets with the products made in Málaga. They include not only established application fields such as industrial drives and systems, electric trains and automotive electronics, but also promising growth markets in the field of renewable energy. “The competence and dedication of our team here in Málaga gives us good reason for high expectations as does this cutting-edge factory, with which TDK-EPC will further improve its competitiveness,” said Klaus Ziegler, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of EPCOS and Chairman of the Board of Directors of TDK-EPC, during the opening ceremonies. “Málaga plays a key role in our business: the quality of the research and development activities and the broad spectrum of products that are manufactured here are a major factor in the success of our company.”
TDK-EPC’s new factory will produce power capacitors that are primarily used in wind power generators and photovoltaic power plants and for the efficient transmission of energy. Power capacitors are key components, for example, in high-voltage DC (HVDC) transmission systems. HVDC is the technology of choice for the transport of power over long distances, for example, from offshore wind farms to the power grid on the mainland. HVDC systems ensure a very low loss transmission of power – only about 3 percent over a distance of 1000 kilometers. Power losses over conventional AC transmission systems are twice as high.
With the new facility TDK-EPC is continuing a successful presence in Spain that now spans several decades. The company has invested more than EUR 20 million in the new facility. After it is ramped up the annual sales of the factory are to reach more than EUR 50 million. In both of its factories in Málaga TDK-EPC now employs approximately 400 people.
Additional information is available at www.epcos.com/capacitors