Terex doubles up on Iowa wind farm

West Des Moines developer RPM Access has completed work on the Hawkeye Wind Farm project in rural Fayette County, Iowa with the help of two Terex CC2800-1 crawler cranes.

The Hawkeye Wind Farm has 15 wind turbines, with the capacity to generate enough power for more than 12,000 family homes each year.

The 328 foot (100 metre) tall turbines were erected at an average rate of one turbine every two to three days. Each turbine consisted of seven lifts: five tower segments; a nacelle consisting of a deck, generator, gearbox, and cooling and control equipment; and a blade and hub assembly.

The two cranes were configured differently so that they could complement each other on the project. One CC2800-1 crawler crane was equipped with enough boom and full counterweight to successfully lift the upper two tower sections, nacelle and hub and blade assembly. The second, shorter crane configuration had just enough lattice boom installed to erect the first three tower segments to a total height of 203.4 feet (60 m).

The heavier base sections ranged in weight between 79.6 and 81.7 tons (72.2 and 74.1 tonnes). Once one base was completed the smaller crawler crane moved on to the next base, while the taller CC 2800-1 came in to top off, lifting the top two tower segments, 300 ton (272 tonne) nacelle and 37.5 ton (34.0 tonne) blade and hub assembly.