INTERNATIONAL AND SPECIALIZED TRANSPORT
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DECEMBER 2013
28
Future heights
No matter how big turbines get or how
remote wind farms become, the future
for wind turbine installation projects
is one that will continue to see growth.
“Wind energy is growing faster than any
other renewable energy technology,” a
spokesperson from ALE points out. “This
is because wind energy becoming a lot
more appealing as countries try to reduce
their carbon dioxide emissions.”
This increase, coupled with a new
primary financial policy for the wind
industry in the USA, has led to an increase
in jobs, and many crane rental companies,
if not already experiencing the effect, are
The CAL 64000
Liebherr heavy
lift crane
can be used
for offshore
wind farm
installations
A Sennebogen 5500 crawler crane hard at
work on a wind farm in Westphalia, Germany.
The 180 tonne capacity lattice boom crawler
was owned by international crane company
Gustav A Neeb. Tasks included daily loading
and unloading of wind turbine components
from trucks. The turbine components
weighed up to 64 tonnes. The 5500 was
configured with 41 metre boom and a 120
kN winch. Gustav Armin Neeb, said, “With
the Sennebogen 5500 crawler crane we
can work with extreme flexibility and we are
even safely underway under load. Even after
a short time the high reliability has already
convinced us.”
WIND TURBINE ERECTION
set to benefit. Mikut explains more, “The
production tax credit (PTC), the primary
financial policy for the wind industry, has
a new provision which allows wind and
other eligible renewable energy projects
that begin construction in 2013, to qualify
for the credit.
"This increasing activity in both green
field farm development and, in many
established farms, turbine maintenance,
results in crane-intensive work.”
A spokesperson from Barnhart
concludes, “There are a lot of groups
scrambling to qualify for the PTC
incentives. This will generate a very busy
market for the next couple of years.”
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