The three Potain cranes are working for Strabag, the main building contractor on the extension work. Berlin-based Potain dealer, Wilhelm Banzhaf owns the rental fleet. German crane rental firm Breur & Wasel is also supplying a Terex-Demag CC 8800 for the work.

Jöerg Störling, site manager for Strabag, said the Banzhaf crane package was the best choice for this power station construction.

“On this construction project we have numerous stages to manage so we wanted all of the cranes to come from one source,” he says. “We consulted a number of dealers in Germany and reviewed a variety of technical solutions for this project. But only Wilhelm Banzhaf had the complete package. They delivered all the equipment and services we requested and also managed the erection and on-site operators.”

The first crane on site, the MD 345B, arrived in March. It is working with a 75 m jib, giving it good coverage of the project. It is the central piece of lifting equipment on the site and is responsible for the construction of two 145 m stairwell towers on the machine house.

Concrete pouring on these towers takes place round the clock, with the crane climbing as construction rises. The hook height of the MD 345B will eventually reach 160 m. As it rises it will be anchored at heights of 47, 82, and 112 m.

Jöerg Störling says the ease of climbing the Potain cranes has helped the project proceed as planned.

“We needed to climb the cranes in 35 m and 30 m stages and with Potain’s 5 m mast sections this was easy,” he says. “Downtime was kept to a minimum and we could proceed without problem.”

Of the two Potain MDT 222 J12 cranes, one is working with its full 65 m complement of jib, at which distance it can lift 2.4 t. It is working at a hook height of 81 m. The second has a 55 m jib, at which length it can lift 3.6 t. This one has a hook height of 71 m. These two cranes are building the anchor point for the machine house a height of 30.9 m.

Boxberg has been supplying electricity from brown coal (lignite) to the grid since 1971. There are three existing blocks that produce electricity – two 500 MW blocks were re-equipped with modern environmental technology between 1992 and 1995 – and in 2000 a 900 MW single block facility was commissioned. These deliver up to 15.6 billion kWh of electricity a year. The new extension block will have a gross capacity of 675 MW and deliver close to 7500 full-load hours to the grid every year.

The construction of this block is anticipated to complete around October 2008.