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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
APRIL
2016
PROJECTS AND CONTRACTS
The Nojoli project comprises 44 Vestas V100 2 MW wind
turbine generators, which have the capacity to generate
more than 275 GWh per year or enough for 86 000 South
African households.
“In recent years we have transported and erected over 160 turbines
at wind farms around South Africa,” said project and mechanical engi-
neer, Robbie Boshoff.
The company’s contract commenced with discharging the vessel in
December 2015 at the Port of Ngqura near Port Elizabeth, and storage at
the port. “The team on this tight-deadline project had an early start to
the year, arriving back to discharge a second vessel on 2 January 2016
with further vessels to be discharged throughout the project.”
According to Boshoff, the contract will run until 23 June 2016, and
WIND TURBINES
at
NOJOLI
Locally based international heavy-lift,
specialised transport and plant installation
company, Vanguard has been awarded the
transport and crane erection contract for
the Nojoli Wind Farm near Cookhouse in the
Eastern Cape, once again showcasing its
experience in this sector and its specialised
engineering solutions.
>
involves not only the discharge and storage at the port, but also special-
ised transportation of all components to site, about three and a half
hours away, followed by the erection of the turbines utilising Vanguard’s
GTK1100 crane.
A fleet of extendable and multi-axle trailers transports the compo-
nents, which include nacelles weighing 72 tonnes, hubs of 21 tonnes,
and turbine blades of 50 metres in length.
“Among the challenges to be managed on this route to site is a
mountain pass with very narrow turns,” said Boshoff. “We work with the
traffic authorities to close off the pass entirely, so that our extendable
trailers can safely use the whole road to manoeuvre the blades through
the turns.”
On site, the GTK crane is assisted by a dedicated and specialised
team, including two qualified Red Seal riggers, who lead the team
to assemble and break down the crane, so that it can be moved and
positioned for the next turbine – each process taking around 10 hours.
“Another team pre-populates the handstands with the components in
advance to ensure that no delays occur with the main build,” he said.
With every aspect of the job, detailed method and risk assessments
are done, including environmental assessments.
Once operational, Nojoli Wind Farm’s environmentally-friendly
electricity supply will save the atmosphere from more than 251 000
tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, which would have come from
coal-powered stations.
The wind farm is being constructed by Enel Green Power, which has
about 740 plants operating in 15 countries in Europe, the Americas and
Africa; EGP’s total installed capacity is 9 600 MW from a range of sources
including wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal and biomass.
Vanguard discharging the vessel and storage at the Port of Ngqura.
Vanguard GTK Crane is assisted by a dedicated and specialised team.