A report on crane hardstands for the installation of onshore wind turbines has been publishd by the Dutch organization STOWA with the support of ESTA member VVT.
The report is intended for all involved in the onshore wind industry – from designers, engineers, insurers and regulators to equipment suppliers, contractors and subcontractors.
The authors explained: “The size and height of wind turbines on land have grown considerably during the past decades. The cranes needed to install (and to maintain) these turbines have therefore also undergone huge increases in size and weight, resulting in increased crane loads.
“Hardstands for these increasingly heavy cranes demand careful, safe and economical design. At the same time, many location-specific factors play a role in hardstand design, such as crane type, the loads to be lifted, the environment and characteristics of the supporting soil.”
They added that the 133-page publication should be read as ‘a handbook for design’, than as a specific design guideline, and they hope that experience gained using this handbook in the coming years will feed into development of future guidelines.
STOWA is the knowledge centre for the regional water managrs in the Netherlands, supplying information that water managers need to carry out their work.
The report can be downloaded for free here –https://www.stowa.nl/publicaties/crane-hardstands-installation-wind-turbines