Collett Doubles Up for UK Blade Lifter First

Collett & Sons has deployed two blade lifter trailers running simultaneously to deliver wind turbine blades to Sanquhar II, one of the UK’s largest onshore wind farms under construction.

The move was the first dual blade lifter convoy project completed in the UK, Collett said.

The operation also marked the debut of Collett’s new FTV850 Goldhofer blade lifter, purchased last year to boost the heavy-lift specialist’s capacity for complex renewable projects. The Goldhofer lifter has been paired with the company’s existing Scheuerle trailer to support ongoing deliveries to the 308-megawatt (MW) Sanquhar II wind farm in southern Scotland.

“The introduction of a second blade lifter has enabled us to increase blade delivery capacity during this phase of the project while maintaining the established transport methodology,” said Paul Worth, senior project manager at Collett. “Every movement still follows the same detailed planning process and operational controls required to transport blades of this size through a constrained route.”

The Sanquhar II project features 44 Vestas wind turbines and will generate enough electricity to power some 335,000 homes, with completion slated for 2027.

The operation begins at King George V Dock in Glasgow, where turbine blades are transported on Collett’s quadruple extendable blade trailers to a dedicated transition point some 10 miles from the project site. There, Collett-owned Kalmar reach stackers equipped with specialist lifting hooks transfer the blades onto the blade lifters, eliminating the need for a mobile crane and improving both efficiency and site logistics.

From this point, the blade lifters take over for the most technically demanding stage of the journey. Designed to negotiate constrained routes, narrow villages, tight bends and restricted roads, the trailers can raise blades to angles of up to 60 degrees, enabling the safe transport of components measuring up to 80 meters in length where conventional blade trailers cannot operate.

Operating both blade lifters at the same time requires a dedicated team of 12 specialist personnel, with six operators assigned to each unit throughout the convoy.

Ahead of mobilization, Collett’s consulting division carried out detailed route surveys and swept path analysis to verify route feasibility and identify any infrastructure modifications required to facilitate the deliveries.

Once the project is complete, Collett will have delivered 480 wind turbine components including 42 V162 turbines with 80-meter blades and two V136 turbines with 68-meter blades, alongside tower sections, nacelles, hubs and power trains.

Collett, Goldhofer and Scheuerle are exhibitors at Breakbulk Europe.