Enercon uses Liebherr 1000 EC-B 125 Litronic tower crane to erect 149m wind turbine

With a hub height of 149m and a blade diameter of 115m, it is the largest turbine ever to be erected using this tower crane. By providing a 31.50m jib and a hook height of 164m, the crane was still able to hoist 100t using four lines. The maximum load capacity of this crane is 125t in the six-line version or 100t in the four-line version.

According to Enercon, only the 1000 EC-B 125 Litronic could be considered for the small, steep hilltop in Gutach, Mühlenbach in the middle of the forest. The area required for erecting a complete flat-top crane is approximately half of the normal standing area of other crane systems.

What's more, the logistics required to transport the 1000 EC-B 125 Litronic are much less than for comparable crane systems since the various components of the tower crane are supplied in small packages.

First of all the compact Liebherr LR 1200 crawler crane assembled the flat-top crane to its initial hook height of 39m, after that the tower crane erected the wind turbine and was able to climb up the turbine tower as it rose using its own climbing equipment.

The tower crane climbed to a free-standing hook height of 110m and using this single guying, it climbed to a final hook height of 164m. Both free-standing and also fully climbed and guyed were only possible because Liebherr's flagship flat-top crane was assembled on the 1000 HC tower system. The monoblock tower sections with system dimensions of 3.40m x 3.40m and a length of 5.80m allow high free-standing erection heights with short erection times. The erection of the wind turbine took around four weeks.

In addition, the crane was fitted with an adjustable undercarriage with a support base measuring 18 x 18m upon the request of Enercon for the erection of the first turbine. The support arms can be changed on this special undercarriage from the 45° position by +/- 5° or +/- 10°. The footprint of the support base is then 20.4m x 15.2m, meaning that the crane can be moved closer to the object since it requires so small space.