LTM 11200-9.1 assembles 630 EC-H top-slewing cranes

On the site near Schwäbisch Hall, Germany, the LTM 11200-9.1 assembled the three massive construction cranes on the 40m-high foundations of the wind turbines which are also used as water storage basins.

The heaviest component of the tower crane was the main jib which weighed around 23t.

The assembly of each of these special cranes for wind turbines, with which Max Bögl has erected a large number of wind turbines over the last five years, took around two days.  On the current site the cranes reach hook heights of 190m above the ground.

The mobile crane had to manage significantly larger load cases, namely up to 90t, during the construction of the lower system tower. A radius of 26m was required for this work as a result of the large storage basin around it. From a height of 76m above the ground, the construction crane then took over the assembly of the remainder of the tower.

These systems, which are currently under construction in Gaildorf and are due to come online by the end of the year, and will be the highest wind turbines in the world. The rotor blades will catch the wind at an altitude of 246.5m.

The special feature of the wind turbines built on a mountain ridge is their positioning on giant storage basins. At a later date, these will be connected to a modern hydroelectric power plant and a water storage basin in Kocher Valley. This will enable the system to compensate for the fluctuating power generation capacity of the wind turbines. In high winds, when more electricity is generated than can be fed into the network, water will be pumped from the lake at the bottom into the high storage basins. When there is little wind, electricity can still be generated in the pumped-storage power plant.

This project has been a showcase for Liebherr and Max Bögl. As well as being an innovative solution to the problem of maintaining a steady supply of power from a variable renewable energy source, it has made use of a wide range of equipment. In February, we reported on how an LTR 1220 telecrawler was used to build the water basins that form part of the energy storage system; in August, we reported on how a giant LTM 11200-9.1 was used to erect the first sections of the water towers used in the system.