New Ways: RWE And Norwegian Windspider Cooperate on Wind Turbine Crane System

New Ways: RWE And Norwegian Windspider Cooperate on Wind Turbine Crane System

Essen, Germany - Energy group RWE and Norway's Windspider have signed a memorandum of understanding. The Norwegians are developing a new modular self-erecting crane system that surrounds the wind turbine tower like the web of a spider and can be used both on land and at sea.

According to RWE, the availability of specialized cranes could become a bottleneck during erection but also during replacement of major components. The Windspider solution is based on using the wind turbine tower as part of the crane. One advantage is that the relative movement between the crane and the tower can be eliminated. The effective load capacity is said to be more than 1,200 metric tons.

"We are very pleased with this opportunity to collaborate with RWE. This will allow for increased momentum in the ongoing development of our technology", said Kent Lynggaard Vinkel, CEO of WindSpider.

Subsequently, the solution also has the potential to enable the maintenance of floating wind turbines and the replacement of key components at sea. This is significant for RWE, which aims to have a total of 1 GW of floating offshore wind turbines in operation or under construction by 2030

Source: IWR Online, 16 Dec 2022