Manitowoc Co. Inc., a global manufacturer of cranes and lift solutions with manufacturing, distribution and service facilities, says Mortenson Construction is using the Manitowoc MLC650 crane to dramatically increase construction efficiency of the South Plains II wind farm in Lockney, Texas.
Minneapolis-based Mortenson created a new method to assemble 91 wind towers that would not have been possible with previous generation crawler cranes. The MLC650, configured with luffing jib and VPC-MAX attachments, is assembling the 194 USt turbines on the ground and then lifting the fully assembled nacelles 300 feet into the air before attaching them to the top of the tower.
“With this crane configuration, not only are we much more efficient, we can better control the quality of the turbine assembly,” said Steven Klatt, crane manager with Mortenson Construction. “Building it on the ground instead of in the air is much easier, and the VPC-MAX gives us more radius to work with. It also enables us to do just one pick versus four picks – that’s pretty powerful.”
Photo courtesy of Manitowoc Cranes
