Liebherr lattice boom at French wind farms

The company purchased the used lattice boom mobile crane from Liebherr in Ehingen last autumn. After undergoing full factory refurbishment, the LG 1750 was dispatched to the Liebherr Service Centre at Niederhergheim near Colmar, from where it travelled to tackle its first job under its new flag.

The crane was scheduled to help in the construction of two wind farms in the north of France, not far from the Belgian border. The crane has already erected a total of 14 turbines, each with a rating of 3.5MW and hub heights of 82 to 97m, at the site.

“We decided on the LG 1750 because, in addition to its performance, it can also be moved quickly from one site to the next,” said Peter Koeke, logistics manager at S.E Levage. “If the weather plays ball, we can easily manage two to three turbines per week”, said Karl Calonne, the large lattice boom crane’s operator. Ideally, a complete turbine should be finished in a single day. The heaviest component is the 72 tonne gondola. The next morning, the crane is dismantled and by evening it has once again been fully erected at the next site and ready for action.

At the same time as the LG 1750, S.E Levage also ordered a brand new LTR 1100 from Ehingen. “This flexible telescopic crawler crane is ideal for auxiliary crane work at a wind farm as a result of its wide range of skills. This manoeuvrable, practical construction machine has proven itself perfect both for setting up the lattice boom crane and also for erecting the tower segments. Even after days of rainfall, its crawler carriers still operate reliably through knee-high slush,” said Liebherr. The dismantled components of the LG 1750 are often transported by the compact auxiliary crane over the soft surface to the prepared road where they are loaded onto the transport vehicles.