Polish turbine installation on the rise

Poland's installed wind power capacity has doubled in the last two years, from 725MW in 2009 to 1,616MW in 2011.

The country is aiming to have 20 percent of its power derived from renewable sources by 2020 to meet EU directives.

Since its purchase last year, the Grove GTK1100 has worked on seven wind farms in northern and central Poland, erecting between two and five turbines at each site.

Viatron's 220 t capacity GMK5220 helps rig the GTK1100 and move turbine components before assembly.

It performed the main lifts during the day and moved to the next wind tower foundation at night.

In addition to Vestas turbines, the GTK1100 has installed three 1.5MW GE turbines and two Vensys' 1.5 MW turbines.

The most popular wind turbine on the Polish sites is a 2MW unit from Vestas, said Manitowoc.

At a height of 105m, the Vestas turbine is tall for a turbine, it added.

The weights involved for the mast sections and hubless nacelle are up to 70t and 71t respectively.

Viatron's CEO Igor Pawela said that the GTK1100 had to earn acceptance in the region because of its unusual design, which can operate with a counterweight but did not need one for these lifts.

Pawela said: "The initial introduction of the GTK concept to wind turbine owners required a lot of education.

"The crane can lift without counterweights, which means it's cheaper and easier to move and assemble, but many customers struggled to visualize how this was possible. They really did need to see it to believe it."

Manitowoc said it offers a one month training program on the crane at its Wilhelmshaven, Germany factory.

Viatron's customers like the smaller size of convoy when moving the GTK on public roads, said Pawela.

"In Poland we are moving the GTK plus equipment for the support crane on 10 trucks, although we know that in some countries the crane can travel on as few as four or five trucks.

"We also have a GMK5220 as our support crane and a telehandler, so our convoy is 12 vehicles in total.

"We investigated the transport requirements for an equivalent lattice-boom mobile crane and found we would need 28 trucks just for the crane without a support crane or other necessary equipment."

The GTK1100's turbine work has been the subject for an episode of X Machines, a TV show which airs on The Discovery Channel.