English - Nooteboom Giants on the Road Magazine English - Nr. 6 - 2019 | Page 39

THEME tower sections with a large diameter and the Super Wing Carrier is the standard trailer for the transport of ultra-long rotor blades measuring up to 80 metres. For the cranes that are used for the construction of windmills Nooteboom also delivers the most efficient transport solutions, such as the Teletrailer, Ballast trailer and the Manoovr. Nooteboom keeps a close eye on the developments in the wind industry. The Nooteboom policy is to provide - in addition to user friendliness and safety - a lower total-cost-of-ownership (TCO). Wind energy has become a stable factor in our energy provision THE GOOD NEWS The good news is that the construction of windmills worldwide is advancing well, but at the same time the solutions for the transport and storage of the energy are still in its infancy. If the technology for the production of hydrogen gas improves, the future wind parks will move to thinly-populated regions with strong winds. In a short space of time large wind parks have been built within Europe, but the electricity network has not been adapted yet to distribute the fluctuating production of the wind parks across Europe. Wind energy has become a stable factor in our energy provision, with a cost price that can compete with gas or coal-fired plants. In order to achieve that competitive price all the suppliers that are involved in the construction and transport are required to work even more efficiently. They can count on Nooteboom, because they have been working for years already on extremely efficient solutions for the transport of wind turbines. ■ CLIMBING CRANES Wind mills are getting taller all the time and a generator with a weight of over 100 tonnes is no longer the exception. Most windmills are built with conventional cranes. Giant cranes, such as the Liebherr LTM 11200-9.1 mobile crane and the Terex CC 8800-1 crawler crane are used to build the biggest wind turbines. A lot of space is needed to erect these huge cranes and dozens of heavy transport combinations are required to move the cranes to another building site. On several fronts work is underway to develop crane concepts that need less space and are more efficient to transport. The new cranes must also be able to operate in stronger winds. Various concepts only exist on paper, but two of them are already in use: the Krøll K1650L tower crane is tailor-made for the construction of very tall windmills and to work in higher wind speeds. Dutch company Lagerwey goes one step further with the Climbing Crane. This Climbing Crane was first tested in the autumn of 2017 when they build a Lagerwey L136 wind turbine near the Eemshaven (NL). The complete Climbing Crane is transported on just three vehicles. The development of climbing cranes is still in full swing. Mammoet – the WTA 250 – is working on a version where a guide rail is attached to the tower first. The Climbing Crane of Lagerwey is attached to the tower without a guide rail. 39