As the globe shifts to renewable energy, wind has become a cornerstone of the clean-energy era. But as turbines grow taller and taller, and blades stretch over 100 meters in length, the logistics of transporting these giants from factory to remote work site is one of the biggest problems facing the industry. Carrying this heavy machinery from the factory to the remote work sites isn’t a matter of trucks and cranes—it’s an operation that borders on military mobilization.
Shipping turbine sections is beset with problems at every turn. Even when towers are pre-splitted into sections, the sections are too wide or too heavy to pass under highway bridges or overpasses. In some cases, infrastructure needs to be shifted temporarily just to allow the load to get through. Blades are probably the biggest challenge. Their length makes tight turns just about impossible, and convoys must drive slowly through villages, open land, and twisty roads. Producers are now casting blade sections to haul them more conveniently, but this entails more challenges in assembling them on site.
Ports are being squeezed too. What were previously portals to renewable power are now maxed out. Offshore wind farms, in particular, require huge spaces to hold blades, nacelles, and tower pieces. Sites initially planned for modest loads are now operating around the clock, with each and every square foot of storage space during peak-production times.
When port space is depleted, units are placed in temporary storage yards miles away, incurring costs and delaying delivery. It can take over an hour and a full crew to relocate a single blade from one storage facility to another, placing in stark relief the intricacy of ordinary logistics.
Route planning is increasingly a technical science. Each project involves careful study of suggested routes for transport, including site inspections, computer simulation, and “swept path” analysis to see how oversized cargo will handle curves, bridges, and steep grades. The best route is not always the shortest oneit minimizes risk and disturbance.
Case studies from around the world demonstrate just how unique each project can be. In New Zealand, for example, a project concerning a massive winfarm required the entire project to be redesigned when machinery stretched beyond available roads. In Australia, contractors with 90-meter blades had to drive cautiously along narrow rural roads and environmentally critical areas to show that each installation has its own logistical challenge to present.
The final leg—shipping turbines to where they will be installed—is typically the most difficult. Wind farms are occasionally located in difficult-to-access mountainous or rural regions. Heavy cranes and trucks must crawl up slippery slopes or rocky terrain, slowing progress and damaging the environment. To aid in avoiding this, crews tend to lay down hardwood mats to create temporary roads and solid platforms, protecting equipment and land.
Innovation is beginning to solve these issues. Scientists are creating new materials like 3D-printed parts and thermoplastic resins to produce lighter, more transportable blades. Others are going modular with manufacturing, making sections of blades near the point of installation to cut out long-distance hauling entirely.
One particularly visionary concept is an aviation idea. A company is developing a huge cargo plane, the WindRunner, which can transport 100-meter-plus blades. With its massive cargo hold and ability to land on crude airstrips, the plane could bring previously inaccessible locations within reach of new wind farms.
Digital technology is also changing the face of logistics. Real-time tracking technologies allow companies to monitor where blades are and how they are doing when they are in transit, reducing delays and having components arrive on the site in the proper sequence. Predictive analytics and sophisticated planning software allow bottlenecks to be foreseen, and improved manufacturer-carrier-construction crew coordination keeps jobs on schedule.
Ultimately, logistics will be just as crucial as turbine design. The more challenging projects become to access, and equipment grows larger, the renewable energy sector will be reliant on creative solutions—not only in design, but in the much-neglected realm of getting these technology behemoths relocated safely and efficiently.