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The largest land-based crane in the world
The largest land-based electric crane in the world is here to further improve construction site cleanliness, and the technology has the potential to completely transform offshore wind farms.
The SK6,000 ring crane was shipped to Mammoet’s engineering center in the Netherlands in April 2023, according to Interesting Engineering.
The Dutch company states on its website that the SK6,000 can boost wind project production efficiency since it can lay a “heavy floating foundation directly into the water” thanks to its maximum radius of more than 470 feet.
Additionally, the company claims that the technology is “future-proof” because the SK6,000’s design, which has a capacity of about 6,600 tons, can be modified to meet the needs of its clients.
The design can reduce the amount of area needed at building sites by 45% and already improves upon ideas from the SK190 and SK350.
“As it is containerized, the SK6,000 can be mobilized to any port, allowing projects to be executed where right knowledge and skills are abundant, and where high-value assets can be best utilized,” Mammoet said in a statement.
By 2050, the Netherlands wants to have a completely sustainable energy system, and part of that plan calls for building wind turbines to take advantage of the North Sea’s favorable wind-harvesting characteristics.
Nevertheless, diesel, a polluting fuel that emits harmful fumes that can endanger construction workers’ health as well as pollution that warms the globe, still powers the majority of cranes.
Meanwhile, Mammoet claims that the SK6,000 is entirely powered by electricity. When the crane would not emit any heat-trapping gases when in operation, it would produce some pollution if it were charged from a dirty energy-based grid, much like an electric passenger car.
Although the SK6,000 is gaining much-needed attention in the Netherlands, clean energy initiatives across the globe are expected to benefit from its design.
“Our customers can now imagine bigger than ever thanks to the innovation of the SK6,000 crane, pushing modules over the 4,000 [tonne] and even 5,000 [tonne] barriers, or nearly 4,400 and 5,500 tons, respectively. The crane’s low ground bearing capacity also makes it globally deployable, according to a statement released by Mammoet Sales Director Giovanni Alders.
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