The UK’s Port of Cromarty Firth has welcomed the biggest single delivery of wind turbine components to the port, to complete 17 complete wind turbine towers for the Corriemoille windfarm in Garve, Ross-shire.
The 51 turbine sections weigh up to 67 tonnes each and are being stored alongside the accompanying 51 turbine blades on the port’s new Phase Three development in Invergordon.
Due to the size of the parts, Port of Cromarty Firth Services was contracted by Collett & Sons to co-ordinate the offload. Tandem lifts requiring the use of two cranes in unison were needed to lift each blade onto Collett’s specialist extendable trailer units capable of accommodating the full 50.2m blade for transportation. Port of Cromarty Firth Services brought in a 750 tonne mobile crane from Osprey HeavyLift to offload the tower sections.
Collett & Sons Ltd were commissioned to deliver the 17 turbine wind farm, with each turbine consisting of 3x blades, 3x tower sections, 1 nacelle and 1 hub. The delivery of the turbine components from the port to the construction site are due to commence in July with shipments arriving early so that pre-works could be carried out ahead of delivery.
The Port of Cromarty Firth recently invested more than £24 million in the Phase Three development at the Invergordon Service Base, in an effort to attract a wider range of customers.
This project was part financed by the European Regional Development Fund Programme and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It allowed the Port to reclaim nine acres of seabed and construct a new 154mtr deep-water quay. This new quayside area ensured the port had the space available to accommodate the large components involved in renewable energy.
Bob Buskie, Chief Executive of the Port of Cromarty Firth, said:
“We are delighted to see more wind farm components arriving into the port. The towers were transported in a single shipment from China and there are very few ports in Scotland that could accommodate such a large vessel. Our success in this project highlights the capabilities of the supply companies based in Invergordon and their ability to jointly co-ordinate large projects. This is exactly the type of new business opportunity we wanted to attract when we invested in the development of the Port and opened up the service base to companies willing to collaborate on large projects in the Cromarty Firth.”
Source & Image Credit: cfpa.co.uk
