As the 2020 deadline for a fifth of Europe’s power generation to be achieved by renewable means looms ever closer, wind turbine manufacturers are striving to provide even more powerful units.

With the release of manufacturer Vestas’ V112 wind turbine model for on and off-shore wind farms, new transport options have had to be designed to accommodate the particular specifications of this latest addition to the Vestas range.

Capable of producing up to 3MW of power, and boasting the highest level of electricity generation in the 3MW class of wind turbines, demand for the V112 has already seen 140 turbines sold to the Macarthur Wind Farm Project in Melbourne the day after they became commercially available.

However with such advancements come new challenges, for instance, how do you transport 54.6m long rotor blades when the standard length catered for prior to the V112 was just 45m?

Rotor blades
Transport trailer manufacturers, all of whom have been working feverishly to provide vehicle movement options for these abnormal loads, have been preparing for the release of the V112 wind turbine.

Danish trailer builder Goldhofer has been working with Vestas to develop a flatbed semi-trailer to manoeuvre the V112’s extra-large rotor blades around Europe’s road networks with the minimum of fuss.

The SPZ-P 3AAA semi-trailer’s design, approved by Vestas, has been developed to handle loads of up to 13t on the vehicle’s spine while accommodating a rotor blade length of anything up to 62 metres.

The trailer, which has a gross combination length (GCL) of just 24m once the triple telescopic spine is retracted, provides the ability to retract the vehicle under load using sliding sleds. In tandem with a steering angle of 60° this is intended to make the negotiation of roundabouts and other obstacles less troublesome.

For the elimination of instability over uneven terrain, the SPZ-P 3AAA also has pendular axles.

Not to be outdone, Nooteboom Trailers have developed the TELE-PX Super Wing Carrier in conjunction with specialist transporters Ter Linden. Their approach to manoeuvrability has taken a slightly different tack with the Super Wing Carrier.

The three axles at the rear of the carrier can be moved longitudinally underneath the length of the load floor, allowing the wheelbase to be extended or shortened by up to 7m.

With a slight increase of 70cm in the carrier’s height achievable via the wheel mechanisms and the gooseneck, the Super Wing Carrier allows a good degree of latitude when deciding how to attack difficult legs of a journey.

However Ter Linden claim that transporting large rotor blades would still be almost impossible without the Super Wing Carrier’s featured pendle steering.

In an attempt to provide good close control when manoeuvring, instead of each wheel pair steering around a point in the middle of the axle as is typical with turntable steering, using pendle steering each wheel is individually steered around a point above the wheel.

Tight site access routes can often be an issue with abnormal loads, so to add another tool to the haulier’s arsenal TII Group’s Scheuerle arm has developed the Blade Adaptor, to provide an unusual degree of manoeuvrability.

Intended for use with the Inter Combi SP, the Scheuerle Blade Adaptor permits lifting and turning of the rotor blade being transported to avoid various obstacles such as low walls or trees. The blade can be tipped upwards to an angle of 23° as well as being able to rotate on its longitudinal axis to cater for strong wind conditions.

Scheuerle claim that this is an ideal solution for the last leg of arduous journeys with difficult site access.

Tower sections & nacelles Where the length of the V112 rotor blades provides a challenge in terms of dimensions, weighing in at well over 100t the sheer mass the V112 nacelle does provide food for thought.

For instance, with the drive train alone weighing in at a substantial 60t, Goldhofer has chosen the simplest route and provided a separate transport option for the drive train, thereby reducing the unit’s gross combination weight.

This allows the generator to be transported via a seven or eight axle semitrailer or a drop deck vehicle (using the Goldhofer pallet transport system).

While Nooteboom also opt for a similar solution, TII Group’s approach takes the bull by the horns with the Nicolas telescopic tower adapter.

Exhibiting an impressive lift capacity of 120t, ample for most tower sections (and even the V112 nacelle with the drive shaft still incorporated), the versatile Nicolas adapter can be fitted with special clamps for lifting nacelles in addition to tower sections. The adapter can be fitted to platform trailers manufactured by the TII Group companies Scheuerle and Kamag.

Although incapable of lifting the V112’s mammoth nacelle, Goldhofer’s Futtog (roughly translated as ‘Roadtrain’) can still provide much needed versatility during transport, and even allow tower sections to navigate hairpin bends en route.

Consisting of a two to four axle jeep dolly at the front and a five to seven axle steering dolly at the rear, both attached by a free-turning device to RA 3-100 tower adaptors.

Combined, the tower adaptors can support a load up to 100t and can lift or lower this load by 3m to avoid obstacles. This makes the use of cranes for initial loading of the vehicle redundant. And thanks to the free-turning bogies, the load can be manoeuvred into 80° angles allowing the vehicle to take hairpin bends while loaded.

Nooteboom’s Mega Windmill Transporter offers a similar level of adaptability to differing road scenarios. Despite it only being capable of raising loads 1.5m, as opposed to the Futtog’s 3m, the addition of remote control for the lift adaptors does add some very useful functionality.

Just one month on from commercial availability of Vestas’ V112 wind turbine, and trailer manufacturers are already getting to grips with the practicalities of moving these demanding specialized components.

So with increasingly rapid advancement in the capabilities and specifications of modern wind farms promised over the next few years, the main players’ will need to build on the success of their responses so far.