Dawes uses Link-Belt telecrawler
23 January 2018
North American crane rental company Dawes Rigging and Crane Rental (Dawes), part of All Family of Companies, used a 250 US ton (230 tonne) Link-Belt TCC-2500 telescopic crawler crane as an assist crane on the construction of the Rocksprings Wind Farm in Texas, USA.
The 149-megawatt wind farm comprises 69 wind turbines, an electrical substation and an underground transmission line generating enough energy to power 69,000 households.
One of the main challenges Dawes said it faced was that the layout of the wind farm that meant the crane had to travel long distances between the turbines – sometimes covering up to three miles (5 km) a day over rough terrain. Over the course of the job the crane travelled approximately 70 miles (113 km), Dawes said.
It was also used to help manoeuvre the lattice boom of a 600 tonne capacity crane (that was being used to erect the wind turbines) under a powerline, as well as build a number of rotors that the lattice boom couldn’t get to.
The crane has now been transported to Kansas where it will be used for further wind turbine work.
