Friday round up: Navigating new policies, crane collaboration, re-using turbines, reducing costs

One of more than 230 wind turbine blades for 78 wind turbines being transported by Vanguard in South Africa. (Photo: TII Scheuerle)

We started the week with a report from Joel Dandrea examining how the new US administration could affect the construction industry. President Trump’s pledge to intensify deportation efforts has raised pressing questions for contractors. How will these changes impact their workforce and operations? Dandrea emphasised the need for proactive planning to stay compliant and mitigate risks.

On Tuesday, we looked at Buckner HeavyLift Cranes and Liebherr’s collaboration on a LTR 1150 telescopic crawler crane. Designed with direct input from Buckner and their clients, the crane combines transportability with advanced lifting capabilities. The first unit is already slated for deployment in the wind energy sector.

As more and more turbines in wind farms start to meet their 20 year obsolescence date, power companies are looking to replace them, generating in turn an evolving industry of dismantling, selling off, transporting, storing and re-installing used turbines and their reusable components. For Wednesday’s briefing, Lucy Barnard investigated the world of re-using wind turbines, finding there is a lot more of it going on than you might think.

Rising insurance costs are top of mind for crane, rigging and specialized transportation companies. What can be done to combat these costs? Companies need to assess how operational practices can be refined to mitigate risk and make their operations safer, and even more productive. National Interstate Insurance’s Rose Augustin discussed how companies can improve their safety performance whilst becoming more competitive.