Windhoist Liebherr put straight to work

Irish company McNally - Windhoist collected its new Liebherr LTM 11200-9.1 telescopic wheeled mobile crane from the factory in Ehingen, Germany and drove it straight to a job near Nuremburg.

The project at Heidenheim was to erect an Enercon E-70 wind turbine so the crane was erected in a typical wind power configuration of 100 m telescopic boom with Y-suspension, 16 m lattice extension and hydraulically adjustable 6.5 m assembly jib.

Following installation of 98 m tower's top section, the machinery house and the 55 tonne generator were mounted. The 70 m diameter rotor weighing 50 tonnes was preassembled at ground level before the LTM 11200-9.1 lifted it to a sheave height of 115 m to attach it to the hub.

Liebherr said that the LTM 11200-9.1 design is optimised for erecting wind turbines up to 3 MW. Erection times are shorter than with lattice boom cranes and less counterweight is necessary, Liebherr said.