The luffing-jib tower has been working on the site since July, at mast heights rising up to almost 100m. Its 35m luffing jib protrudes over the edge of the 113m-high cooling tower. With the luffer and the mounted hydraulic jaw, the first 60m of the cooling tower will be dismantled by the end of the year.
The hydraulic unit for the drive of the hydraulic jaw is mounted on the counter jib. The crane has a maximum lifting capacity of 6t.
The first four cooling towers in the old Boxberg power plant were demolished using explosives two years ago. For safety reasons the last one remained in order to retain the cable and pipeline routes in the ground and to not risk the utilities supply of the industrial site. A crane is being used to partly demolish the cooling tower, for the same safety reasons.
TVF Alwert has subcontracted demolition to Biq Standortentwicklung und Immobilienservice GmbH. Site owner Vattenfall Europe has invested several hundred thousand Euros in the demolition job. The partial demolition using the crane will continue until the end of the year, and the rest of the tower will be removed by a wrecking ball in 2009.
