When a wind turbine required its gearbox and generator in Tasmania, Australia, Pfeiffer Cranes handled the heavy lifting with its Grove GMK6400 all-terrain crane. Woolnorth Wind Farms, owner and operator of the Musselroe Wind Farm, contracted turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Technology to manage the replacement work.
Vestas Wind Technology hired Pfeiffer Cranes, a family-owned crane rental business serving Tasmanian. The company selected its Grove GMK6400 for the job, with a GMK4100L-1 providing support.
Working closely with Vestas Wind Technology, Pfeiffer Cranes completed the work with the GMK6400 configured with 49.6 meters of main boom and a 43 meters of luffing fly jib. In this setup, combined with the capacity-enhancing MegaWingLift with 115 tonnes of counterweight, the crane had a capacity of 28 tonnes, which it could lift out to a 30 meter radius. This proved more than enough to place the 24-tonne gearbox and 10-tonne replacement generator, both of which were lifted to a height of 92.6 meters. The lifting work took between 8 and 10 hours.
The Musselroe Wind Farm in Tasmania, Australia, has 56 wind turbines with a power-generating capacity of 168 megawatts.
