Transporting blades to the largest wind farm in Ecuador

The largest wind farm in Ecuador is being built in Loja Province. Called Minas de Huascachaca it comprises 14 wind turbines with a total capacity of 50 MW, which will supply 90,000 households with electricity. The contract to transport the turbines and blades was awarded to the Colombian special transport and lifting company Transportes Montejo.

Montejo’s fleet includes a Goldhofer FTV 550 blade lifter, which has a load moment of 550 mt. That makes it able to transport the latest generation of wind turbine blades that are not only long and heavy but wide as well: they have a diameter of 3.4 m at the root. The great advantage of FTV 550 blade lifter is that the blades can be freely rotated around their own axis in order to keep them out of the wind during transport. The blades can also be angled as required up to a maximum angle of 60° to pass over or under obstacles. This is the key to savings as it minimises the need to remove or make changes to the roadside infrastructure.

With the FTV 550 mounted on a Goldhofer THP/SL heavy-duty module, Transportes Montejo was able to transport the 73 m long blades for a 4 MW Dongfang wind turbine up the winding road to the construction site on a plateau in the Andes.

In such mountainous terrain, the Goldhofer FTV blade lifter demonstrated its capabilities; the Transportes Montejo crew raised and turned the blades to avoid contact with the steep slopes as the combination made its way up to the jobsite.