Handling and lifting of wind turbines in an offshore marine wind farm

Handling of wind turbines in Taranto

It is called "Beleolico" and it is the first marine wind farm in Italy and the entire Mediterranean. It will be located in the Gulf of Taranto in the Mar Grande, in the waters in front of the Ionian port's multi-sector dock.

The offshore marine wind farm will consist of ten turbines with a total capacity of 30 MWh, capable of producing over 58,000 MWh, equal to the annual needs of 60,000 Taranto residents. In environmental terms, this means that, over its expected 25-year life, it will save about 730 thousand tons of CO2.

The ground handling activities necessary for the assembly of the components of the marine wind farm were performed by Marraffa, a company specialized in lifting and large industrial handling.

Marraffa is a leader in Italy and Europe in the field of exceptional transport, lifting and logistics, and is also accredited as a port authority.

Marraffa operates in several commercial ports in Italy, including the port of Taranto, the port of Bari and the port of Venice in Porto Marghera.

The handling and lifting technologies used by Marraffa

Different cranes with different lifting capacities have been used for lifting activities. Marraffa has cranes ranging from a minimum capacity of 20 tons to a maximum lifting capacity of 650 tons. The fleet also includes a crawler crane, which is particularly useful for lifting on uneven ground.

Ground handling is carried out using special self-propelled trailers called SPMT (Self-propelled modular transporters). These are hydrostatically driven trailers capable of handling exceptional loads and weights and consist of modular trailers that can move both longitudinally and laterally. They were used to position and move exceptional loads on site, in this case the components of the offshore marine wind farm.

What is an offshore marine wind farm?

This new energy infrastructure represents a step forward by Italy towards an articulated path of energy transition, in line with the objectives of the new National Energy Plan (Pniec) that foresee for Italy 114Gw of energy from renewable sources by 2030.

The city of Taranto will thus become the starting point for the clean and sustainable energy of the future, thanks to favorable natural conditions that exploit the wind and sea. This plant will enable the production of clean energy with a technology, offshore wind, that effectively reduces all the traditional elements of pollution. Offshore wind is an innovative technology that respects the environment because it does not consume land, but aims to exploit the greater wind force that positioning in the sea guarantees, compared to a land-based plant. It is therefore a real alternative to climate-altering power stations, for the production of clean energy and thus contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere in compliance with European regulations.