The nine-axle unit was taken to “new heights,” as the Enercon-operated wind farm site is located on the ridge of the Pretul mountain in Styria, Austria, at an altitude of around 1,600m.
With numerous bumps and depressions, the winding roads proved to be a unique challenge: two of the passes were so narrow that it was only possible to drive through them in reverse. The Prangl team used a tried-and-true technique to deal with this, “Whenever we need to cross a stretch like that, we first find a maneuvering point that we can drive into and then back off from in reverse,” explains Prangl site manager Peter Glier.
After two setup days with two team members, the crane was ready to start lifting. It lifted all steel sections, nacelles, and rotor blades – with maximum weights of 58t – to the required height of up to 78m while working with a radius of 21m.
The Prangl team achieved its ambitious schedule of erecting 14 wind turbines in a total of three months.
