Hydro energy scheme for Hawks
26 July 2017
Hawks Crane Hire put the UK’s first Kobelco CKE2500G-2 lattice boom crawler crane to work on a community energy project.
The Sandford Lock hydro scheme is at the Lasher Weir on the River Thames near Oxford in England. Due for completion around the time of writing in mid-2017, it will have three Archimedes screws with a capacity to generate 1,600 MWh of electricity a year using the power of the river. Prior to installation the 21.6 tonne steel screws were floated from a wharf in Sandford across the river to the weir. The 250 tonne capacity CKE2500G-2 with a 90 tonne CKE900G-2 lifted them into position inside the concrete structure of the weir.
Commenting on the job, Elliot Hawkins, Hawks Crane Hire managing director, said, “Access to the site was a real problem. Not only when it came to moving the Archimedes screws but also, thanks to a very low bridge, getting the cranes on site. We looked at several options and the low profiles and compact dimensions of the Kobelco CKE2500G-2 was the only crane that would fit under the bridge.”
The 250 tonner has a maximum main boom of 91.4 m but for the first part of the Sandford job, it was rigged with 39.6 m and lifted the screws at 30 m radius.
Kent-based Hawks Crane Hire took delivery of the new 250 in May. It has a Stage IV/Tier 4 Final engine to comply with emission requirements in central London. Also fitted was the KCross remote operation management system to help maximise machine efficiency and uptime.
After the Sandford Lock hydro scheme, the 250 tonne will move to a job in Richmond, south West of London, “where it’ll be lifting 25 tonne silos to a height of 60 m for a brewery using its luffing jib. Demand is high throughout London and the southeast and I expect we’ll be adding to our fleet of nine cranes in the next 12 months,” Hawkins said.
