Collett & Sons has successfully delivered 216 wind turbine components to Limekiln wind farm, a project comprising 24 Vestas V136 turbines.
Located on the Limekiln Estate, just south of Reay Caithness in the Scottish Highlands, the wind farm is currently under construction by Boralex. Collett’s team planned and coordinated deliveries over a five-month period.
The deliveries commenced in May 2024, with components arriving into Scrabster port. Activities at the port, such as vessel berthing, component handling, crane offloading and vessel discharge, were also organised by Collett.
Following the arrival of the first phase of blades and tower sections to Scrabster, the Collett team transported them directly to the wind farm’s secure onsite storage area. The delivery of the remaining components was aligned with the wind farm’s construction schedule.
Key components included 67 m-long blades transported on Nooteboom super wing carrier trailers and 74-tonne base tower sections moved on Collett’s new 3x7 Nooteboom clamps. Additional components, such as mid tower, top tower, nacelle, drive train, and hub, were transported via six-axle stepframe trailers.
Collett’s consulting department conducted a detailed route assessment, including swept path analysis reports. The evaluations identified the need to remove street furniture, tree trimming and most notably, widening of a sharp bend on a turning area near the port exit road. This modification was crucial to allow the long turbine blades to navigate the journey. To ensure route feasibility, Collett carried out a test run, simulating the loaded blade trailer length using an extendable trailer with a 15 m rear projection.
All components followed the same 45-minute route to the wind farm site entrance before navigating the large wind farm site to their respective pad. Police escorts were arranged for blades and tower sections up to the site entrance, with Collett’s escort fleet continuing the journey across the site. Collett coordinated closely with Highland Council and BEAR Scotland (responsible for A9 roads in the region), to arrange permits and address route adjustments. The project was also tracked regularly through communication with Vestas and wind farm stakeholders, supported by daily meetings and calls.
The final delivery in October 2024 marked the successful completion of component deliveries. This was made possible by Collett’s team of three drivers, three steersmen, a project manager, a site supervisor and a tow truck operator.
