A Terex CC 2800-1 NT crawler crane has helped to build one of Chile’s largest wind farms within the space of just three months.
The crawler is owned by crane rental firm Gruas Burger, and was enlisted by developer Enel Green Power to perform the heavy lifting at the site. Work at the Valle De Los Vientos wind park was conducted at breakneck speed.
“It was a logistic masterpiece we are proud of,” said Raul Burger, president and owner of Gruas Burger.
“After the access roads and pads were prepared, and the turbine parts in place, we erected each turbine and then crawled with the fully erected crane to the next pad. On average, we erected one turbine per day and each turbine required seven lifts. It was indeed a very fast pace,” he explained.
Valle De Los Vientos, or ‘Valley of the Winds’, consists of 45 Vestas V100/2000 2MW turbines, the rotors of which are 100m in diameter. After the preparatory groundwork had taken place, the CC 2800-1 NT had to lift loads of up to 100 tonnes up to 80m in height, within a typical working radius of 18m.
“After two months of hard work, we lifted the last nacelle,” said Burger.
“It was a wonderful feeling to look back and see how much we contributed towards renewable power in Chile in such a short time,” he added.
Valle De Los Vientos is the first of three wind farms planned for the region of Antofagasta in northern Chile. Now that it has been inaugurated, the 90MW park accounts for almost a third of Chile’s total wind power generation.
