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Truck and Track Spring 2019 18
BUSINESS NEWS
Utilising our Nooteboom triple extendable Super Wing
Carriers, deliveries of the 78 turbine blades (26 turbines in
total) destined for Kype Muir Wind Farm are now complete.
Our Teams undertook the planning and delivery of 494 components
including blades, towers, nacelles, drive trains and hubs required
for the development of Kype Muir Wind Farm. The 80m hub height
towers of the Senvion 3.4MW turbines feature 52m blades, and
whilst these are not the largest we’ve been appointed to handle,
they necessitated the use of our Super Wing Carriers due to the
problematic road restrictions and alignments en-route.
Several areas of route modifications were identified ahead of the
commencement of the project, this included bridge restrictions,
with an emphasis on the Lambhill Road and Brown’s Bridge areas
on approach to the site. Excluding the loaded wind turbine blades,
each of the components would be loaded to a combination of 3, 4,
5 & 6 axle stepframes, modular low loaders and clamp trailers for
transportation to site and with the planned route modifications,
including removal of vegetation, road signage and road widening,
already having been completed this would not pose a great
challenge to navigate.
The challenge arose when it came to the transportation of the 52m
blades, which is where our Super Wing Carriers came into effect.
The use of these specialist trailers provided us with the ability to
shorten the body and wheelbase of the trailer whilst loaded with
the use of the bolster arrangement on the trailer deck. Utilising
the features of these Super Wing Carriers, extendable up to 64.3m,
meant that the proposed access route to the development site
became a viable option for this size of turbine.
Proof of this flexibility was demonstrated prior to transport by
Collett Consulting creating a 3D model of the loaded vehicle. This
then allowed us to produce a detailed swept path analysis video
of the blade components successfully negotiating restricted route
sections by manipulating the trailer whilst loaded.
This in-depth planning allowed us to highlight the sections of the
route where the steering angle of the Super Wing Carrier’s bogie
provided extra manoeuvrability. The challenge was to ensure that
there would be no contact with any part of the blade or the trailer
chassis with the road surface, bridge structures or buildings when
navigating several sections of the route. This is where capabilities
of the Super Wing Carriers to raise the trailer height came into
action, allowing our Team to raise the height of both the front and
the rear of the trailer, resulting in each of the blades oversailing the
embankments and stone parapets when crossing the bridges en-
route. By employing the capabilities of these trailers our Teamwere
able to remove the need for further, more costly modifications, and
ensure that each of the seventy-eight 52metre blades would safely
arrive on site.
Beginning in July, the 18 week delivery schedule is now complete.
Following an agreed timetable of 1.5 turbines per week, our Teams
systematically transported each of the 494 cargoes from their
portside location direct to the delivery site. Working on amulti-port
strategy with components arriving at the Port of Grangemouth and
King George V Dock, the Collett Team have undertaken all ship’s
discharge and stevedoring duties, port storage, extensive planning
and delivery for each complete turbine.
Deliveries to the site, which lies three miles south of Strathaven,
South Lanarkshire, are now completed and construction of the
wind farm is well underway. Kype Muir Wind Farm is the flagship
development of Banks Renewables.
Delivering Kype Muir Wind Farm