Terex boosts lift capacity on wind turbine construction

Several 149 metre hub-height wind turbines are being erected near the small town of Lüderitz, Germany using a Terex Superlift 3800 lattice boom crawler crane with a new type of boom configuration and frame option that increases the crane’s capacity and improves rigging efficiency.

Crew members from Franz Bracht Kran-Vermietung of Erwitte, Germany transported enough boom and jib components plus superlift structure and counterweight for the 165m boom configuration required for the turbine erection process that they have completed many times over the years and throughout Germany.

Franz Bracht achieved a performance increase of 30 per cent using the Boom Booster kit, which increases the stiffness of the main boom by increasing boom width from the standard 3m to a width of 3.5m. Up to seven booster sections with 12m lengths can be installed on the crane’s main boom, allowing it to reach a maximum hook height of 174m.

The boom kit comes standard with the Terex Cranes fall protection system, and its design allows two additional boom sections to “slide” into the Boom Booster kit during transportation to eliminate the need for at least one truckload.

Guntram Jakobs, product marketing manager at Terex Cranes, said, “This can result in up to €1,000 in transportation savings, depending on the crane configuration.”