53
INTERNATIONAL
ANDSPECIALIZED TRANSPORT
■
APRIL 2015
A
series of articles aboutwind energy
andwind turbine components
wouldbe incompletewithout
addressing the transport aspects. Before
lifting thewindgenerator components;
thenacelle, thehub, thevarious tower
sections and theblades, they all have tobe
transported to the jobsite.
As thewindgenerator components are
becomingbigger, the challenges for the
transport contractor are alsobecoming
bigger. Bladesused tobebetween18 and
24metres long and couldbe transported
on extendible trailers.Now, however,
blades canbeup to80m long and require
some serious engineering and logistics
involvement. TheVestasV164, for
example, is an8MWwindgeneratorwith
80m longblades.Not all blades, however,
are this long and some can evenbe
transported inpairs.
When theblades become too long tobe
transported fromorigin todestination, or
the surrounding infrastructure simplydoes
not allow for such a long load, alternative
transportmethods are available.Various
hydraulicplatform trailermanufacturers
havedeveloped awindblade adapter.
Rather thanplacing theblade flat on a
trailer, theblade isnow fitted into an
adapter, similar to theway theblade is
fittedon to thehubduring erection.
During transportation, theblade can
bekept horizontal as if itwere transported
on an extendible trailer.When corners are
getting tight or obstructions are in theway,
theblade canbe tiltedup some25degrees.
This allows the tipof theblade, or the tail
swingof the transport combination, to
moveover street furniture, or trees,
or buildings.
When an adapter isplaced at the
endof a transporter, it ispossible that
a counterweight is required towarrant
transporter stability. This, however,
depends on theweight and centreof gravity
(CoG) of the individual blade.
Transporting towers
The challengewith transporting tower
sections is twofold. They are long, although
generallynot as long as theblades and,
for the tall towers, thediameter (read
height) canbecome an issueduring
transport.Diameters of 4.5 to6.5m are
not uncommon andwith theheight of the
trailer or transporter theoverall transport
height reaches close to7.5or 8m. This can
becomeproblematicwhen transportingon
thepublic road.
Fortunately,manufacturers recognised
theopportunity andneed for specialized
equipment to transport tower sections.
Tower sections vary indiameterdepending
on theheight of the entire tower. In
addition, each section tapers,meaning that
thediameter on each end isdifferent. The
ABOUTTHEAUTHOR
Marco van Daal has been in
the heavy lift and transport
industry since 1993. He started
at Mammoet Transport from the
Netherlands and later with Fagioli
PSC from Italy, both leading
companies in the industry. His 20-year
plus experience extends to five continents
andmore than 55 countries. It resulted
in a book The Art of Heavy Transport,
available at:
Van Daal has a real passion for sharing
knowledge and experience and holds
seminars around theworld.
THEKNOWLEDGE
Windenergyon thego
The focus thismonth is on
transport, asMARCOVAN
DAAL continueshis series
of articles onwind energy
>
Whenon steephills
ormountainous
roads, blade
adapters canbe
used to change the
positionof the
rotor blade
Figure 1a
Figure 1b
