Wind power serves as epic energy source

2020 was projected to be a banner year for the wind power industry. But with the COVID-19 coronavirus crises, it’s hard to say if the upbeat outlook for the wind energy market will continue. Assuming work is not shutdown, chances are high the wind market will be a bright spot for the crane, rigging and transport sector.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is forecasting the United States to add near record level gigawatts of new wind energy capacity to be added to the grid in 2020. A lofty prediction, the EIA predicts that U.S. wind capacity additions in both 2019 and in 2020 will be near the annual record level of additions set in 2012.

Wind capacity additions through June 2019 totaled 3.7 gigawatts (GW). According to projects reported to EIA through surveys and on EIA’s Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory, operators expected another 8.5 GW to come online by the end of 2019, with an additional 14.3 GW by the end of the year 2020.

Changes in annual wind capacity additions in the United States are often related to changes in tax incentives, according to the EIA. The U.S. production tax credit (PTC) provides operators with a tax credit per kilowatt hour of renewable electricity generated for the first 10 years a facility is in operation. The PTC originally expired at the end of 2012 but was later retroactively renewed by the U.S. Congress.

“Developers that scheduled projects to be completed in time to qualify for the PTC drove the high level of annual capacity additions in 2012 (13.3 GW), and similarly, the legislated phaseout of the PTC extension for wind largely drove the increase in annual wind capacity additions in 2019 and 2020,” EIA said.

Epic energy source

Wind energy is also on the radar of investment companies and finance media.

“Renewable energy is poised for a decade of epic growth,” claims a February 5, 2020 article by Maxx Chatsko of The Motley Fool. “Utility-scale solar and onshore wind continue to smash through most forecasts from previous years. If favorable economics continue to drive investment in the renewable duo, then utility-scale solar and onshore wind could generate 30 percent of America’s total electricity in 2030, with all zero-carbon energy sources providing as much as 60 percent.”

The Motley Fool article went on to say that while many projections expect solar power to eventually become the world’s top source of electricity, for now, wind power will continue to be the most favored renewable energy source. Chatsko suggested that the “wind drought” is probably over, meaning that improved technology with newer turbines should allow investors to reap the rewards of recent wind farm expansions. A near record amount of wind came online in 2019, and a record amount should come online in 2020, Chatsko wrote.

According to the EIA, U.S. wind projects must come online by December 2020 to receive the full 2016 PTC value.

Capitalizing on wind

“Based on our current orders, Buckner is currently projecting to supply main erection cranes for wind projects totaling 9.8 GW,” said Dan Ives, P.E., engineering product support and analyst, Buckner HeavyLift Cranes. “Therefore, 69 percent of the forecasted new wind turbine capacity for 2020 will be installed by a Buckner crane,” he said

This total is split roughly evenly between its fleet of Liebherr LR 11000s and LR 1600s crawlers, Ives said.

“By early spring, Buckner will have 17 LR 11000s operating in the U.S., substantially more than any of our competitors combined,” he said. “This is likely the largest concentration of 1,000-ton capacity cranes that has ever occurred in any single market.”

The Buckner team recently finished a project in Hawaii using a LR 11000 as the main crane. The crane placed new Vestas V-136 wind turbines to a hub height of 105 meters. Eight new turbines were installed on the island’s north shore. These turbines form part of the Hawaiian energy supplier’s plan to expand the proportion of renewable energies from 18 percent to over 65 percent by 2030.

For this deployment, the LR 11000 was set up in the SL3F configuration with a main boom of 108 meters and a fixed jib of 12 meters. In this configuration, the crane has a maximum load capacity of 179 metric tons. When erecting the new wind turbines, the heaviest parts – the nacelle with drivetrain and hub – weigh about 158 metric tons; the crawler crane had to lift this weight to the hub height of 105 meters.

The Liebherr was equipped with 130 metric tons of central ballast and a slewing platform ballast of 250 metric tons. The crane can be used without a derrick.

Wind and snow

Palmer, MA-based Northern Construction is working on a wind job in eastern Kansas using its Liebherr LR 11000-SL8F2, according to Alex Rahkonen.

With this configuration, the crane has a capacity of 1,000 metric tons, and with a jib, a capacity of 253 metric tons. There were several reasons this crane was chosen for the project, Rahkonen said.

“The capacity of a larger than 600-ton crane was required due to component weights,” he said. “In addition to that requirement, this particular project requires the crane to be disassembled and moved every few towers.”

He said that the ease at which the LR 11000 can be disassembled and erected has increased efficiency on the jobsite.

“The full capacity of SL8F2 was not required, however the ability to run parallel winches has greatly increased production over SL3F,” Rahkonen explained.

The crane is rigged on engineered soils and hardwood matting. The particular challenge of this job is weather, Rahkonen said.

“Weather is always a problem this time of year,” he said. “A night shift has been added in order to work in favorable wind conditions.” The job is expected to wrap up in the next couple of months.