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Vanguard Constructs Windmills For Darling Wind Power
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One windmill blade, weighing almost 5 tons, awaiting
transport |
Vanguard
has announced the completion of a project for
Western Cape-based Darling Wind Power. The project
included the transportation and construction of four
windmills imported from Germany.
According to Dennis Scholfield, Vanguard Divisional
Manager, the windmills will be providing power to
the domestic and farming community of Darling.
“The
windmills were shipped from the manufacturer in
Germany to Cape Town Harbour. Once in port, we
offloaded the containers from the ship, transported
them to a storage area, and then transported the
windmills to site one at a time. In order to
minimise the transportation time, we preloaded the
low bed truck in the evening and began the journey
in the morning. |
Once
the cargo was offloaded on-site, we returned to the harbour
and began the same process again. The load, classified as
abnormal, could only be transported during the day at
certain times in accordance with the Western Cape’s road
requirements so optimising our travel time was crucial.”
 Each
windmill consists of two towers, a gearbox or nacelle, hub,
and three blades, and was constructed in stages using two
550 ton and 180 ton on-site mobile cranes.
“When constructing the windmill, the first tower, weighing
23 tons, is lifted into position on a concrete platform
using a crane, and bolted on. We also transported the
platform to site in the preparation stages of the project,”
says Scholfield.
The second tower, weighing 28,9 tons, is then lifted on top
of the first, followed by the gearbox. On the ground, the
blades, weighing almost five tons each, are connected to the
hub and the entire piece is lifted as one unit onto the top
of the tower. Once fully constructed, each tower is
approximately 30 metres high.
Vanguard also assisted the commissioning engineers from
Germany in commissioning the towers.
Scholfield notes that Vanguard successfully completed a
similar project for power utility Eskom near Atlantis a few
years ago. “Our experience was definitely a factor in being
awarded the contract, and the successful completion of the
Darling project underscores our reputation in the industry
for being able to carry out these types of projects.”
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