Manitowoc launches Grove GMK 6300L

German hire firm Schuch was responsible for the installation of tower compoenents for the four 2.5mW Enercon E82 wind turbines and confirmed that the pre-production version of the GMK 6300L is a success.

This GMK 6300L is included in one of the many trial fleets currently being tested around the world.

Grove introduced the GMK 6300L last April at Bauma in Germany and demonstrated it in October at a Mantowoc’s Expo in Shady Grove, US.

Adapted with features specifically for windfarm installation, Mantowoc developed the GMK 6300L using input from customers. It has a newly extended 80m boom and a lifting capacity of 300t.

For the Mensinghausen installation, the main boom was extended to 31.5 m and worked with counterweight of 92.5t to lift the 72t component.

Winnie Backer, Schuch’s crane operator, noted that the new features were suitable for lifting: “This crane was perfect for erecting the first sections of this wind turbine,” he said. “We chose it because it’s very strong and we knew with the Megatrak suspension it would be easy to move on the rough ground. Another great feature is the crane’s availability to rig its own counterweight, which saved the need for an auxiliary crane and made things faster and less costly for our client. In addition, we were able to drive the crane on the job site with the full counterweight attached.”

Manitowoc will show the new GMK 6300L at Conexpo in March. In addition, it will show another new Grove crane, the GMK6400. Both cranes will be marketed as suitable for lifting power generation components.