December 24 - Mammoet has completed the transportation and construction of the world's largest offshore wind turbine, developed by Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), at the Energy Park Fife in Scotland.
The tower sections and nacelle were offloaded in Rotterdam and transported to Scotland by Mammoet, while the 83.5 m long rotor blades were shipped in from Denmark.
Once all the components were on site, Mammoet utilised its largest crawler crane, which is capable of handling up to 1,600 tonnes, and two smaller crawlers to erect SHI's wind turbine.
"Installation of the massive 18 m long nacelle on a hook height of 116 m proved to be the biggest challenge," said commercial manager at Mammoet, Tom Rutgrink.
"The location of the wind turbine just off the shoreline required the crawler crane to operate on an impressive 53 m radius," he added.
The 7MW prototype, which is 196 m tall and capable of powering 4,800 homes, is expected to start testing before the end of the year, followed by its certification in the first half of 2014.
