Wind farms

The challenge

Carinthia is upgrading its wind power.

The federal state's first real wind farms have been constructed on the Soboth and the Steinberger Alpe in the district of Lavamünd. Prangl was given the task of delivering the eight wind turbines with hub heights of 84 metres to their locations, and erecting them on site. The 62-metre-long rotor blades with a total transport length of 72 metres posed a particular challenge in this operation.

Our solution

Prangl erects four wind turbines.

In order to further increase the proportion of renewable energy it uses, the state of Carinthia has now also turned to wind power. The goal of the state's master energy plan is to realise an annual output of five GWh by 2025 with 50 wind turbines in operation by then. The Soboth and Steinberger Alpe wind farms - with two and six wind turbines respectively - mark the start of this. They are set to supply around 17,500 households with electricity and will save CO2 equivalent to the emissions of 11,100 cars. Prangl was contracted to transport and lift the eight wind turbines in all.

Special equipment for road transport

Different machines were selected for the road transport to the reloading point on the Soboth - with both locations accessible from here. Pipe adapters with free-turning devices and special tower low-loaders were the ideal solution for transporting the tower segments. Due to the many roundabouts and the winding road up the Soboth, this was the only way to overcome the route from the Lieboch highway exit with transport lengths of up to 52 metres and weights of up to 147 tonnes. Rotor blade trailers, two heavy semi-trailers for the nacelle and the gear unit, and a low-bed semi-trailer for the hub were also in use.

"Self propelled" up the mountain

One by one, the transports arrived at the reloading point. There, the wind turbine segments were awaited by a 400-tonne crawler crane and a 220-tonne telescopic crane, which then transferred them in tandem lift onto self-propelled heavy-duty modules (one of which with a blade transport device) or all-wheel drive tractors with a 5-axle heavy-duty combination for the uphill journey - all backed up by a 6-tonne telehandler. The advantages of versatile and robust self propelled trailers also came to the fore during this operation, which involved overcoming gravelled forest trails with gradients of up to 16 percent.

600-tonne lattice boom crane for the superstructure

Slowly but surely, one segment after the other arrived at its final destination. The wind turbines on the Soboth are located at an altitude of 1,400 metres, while the Steinberger Alpe wind farm lies between 1,450 and 1,600 metres above sea level. There, a total of three 200-tonne telescopic cranes and one 500-tonne telescopic crane operated as pre-unloading and pre-assembly cranes. However, a 600-tonne lattice boom crane took up the most important position, gradually assembling the wind turbines with the help of a 130-tonne telescopic crane. Just-in-time delivery to the Soboth wind farm was essential, due to the small crane parking area. This meant a slightly different lifting concept was required for the main crane. These combination projects in particular have once again demonstrated the importance of having a flexible and experienced heavy duty transportation and crane service provider as a partner at your side.