Swiss crane hire company Emil Egger AG has utilised two Liebherr crawler cranes to erect Switzerland’s second largest wind farm in the Jura Mountains.
The St. Gallen-based company deployed its LR 11000 and LR1700-1.0 to lift loads of over 70 tonnes to a height of 100m across an eight-week operation, ultimately installing six wind turbines that are expected to produce 22 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year.
“All the crawler cranes in our fleet are from Liebherr,” said Managing Director Michael Egger. “We rely completely on the Liebherr brand for crawler crane technology because these modern machines are extremely practical and user-friendly.”
The cranes were sent to work on the border of France in hilly terrain at an altitude of near 1200m above sea level according to Emil Egger AG, with the heaviest lifts pertaining to the generators. With the hook block and slings, the total weight of the load was 71 tonnes for that specific lift.
To successfully complete the operation, Emil Egger AG constructed the LR 11000 with a 114m main boom to handle the height of the lift. On the other hand, the LR 1700-1.0 – which was erecting other wind turbines a few kilometres away from its 1000-tonne counterpart – was equipped with a 99m main boom and a 12m jib angled at 10 degrees to provide sufficient lifting height.
“The machines are simply ‘state of the art’, and Liebherr’s service leaves little to be desired – and not just for reasons of physical proximity to the manufacturer,” said Egger. “If we have a major problem with our equipment, a mechanic is on site within two hours – which is worth a lot.”
The six wind turbines, manufactured by German wind turbine Enercon, hold a total output of 13.8mWh. Wind energy plays a subordinate role in Switzerland’s national energy mix, with around 0.25 per cent of the nation’s electricity being supplied by 50 turbines – overshadowed by the dominant role of hydropower.
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