Roll Group has developed a detachable base frame for the transport of wind turbine transition pieces using SPMTs.
The Netherlands-based specialised transport provider came up with the solution when it was tasked with shipping 66 transition pieces from Aviles (Spain) to Eemshaven (the Netherlands). The transition pieces will be installed at Germany’s Merkur offshore wind farm.
Roll Group said the project was “challenging as the components were pushing the envelope” in terms of their weight, the lifting capacity of the crane and the available dock space.
The base frame allows work to be done at ground level using adjustable suspended girders, without the need for heavy crawler cranes. The girders the make up the frame are manoeuvred using hydraulic cylinders connected to a power pack. Being detachable, the frame allows SPMTs to be deployed for other activities, Roll Group pointed out.
“Our first system is designed for a transition piece of maximum 600 tonnes in weight and will be operated by 28 axle lines of SPMTs – manoeuvring on a footprint of approximately 20 m x 15 m,” the company said.
A 350-tonne capacity version of the transition piece lifter is in development.
The Merkur wind farm is expected to come online at the end of 2019. Spain-based Coordinadora is responsible for the project’s logistics requirements.
