Sector:
Power Grid
Expertise:
Project logistics
Benefits:
Reduced preparation
Protected infrastructure
Location:
United Kingdom
Mammoet negotiated steep gradients, bridges, and other challenges to complete the transportation of two transformers.
From the port of Inverness, the transformers, weighing 193t each, were transported along a complex route to Tomatin Substation in Scotland, UK, where they were successfully installed.
The transportation was performed using Mammoet’s AL34 girder frame with 24 axle lines of the conventional trailer, two Trojan trucks, and an additional prime mover. There were numerous structures on the route, including three onsite bridges, and Mammoet selected this equipment to reduce the axle loadings, enabling safe transportation over them all.
All the bridges were assessed during the planning stages to ensure they could support the transport loads. However, the capacity of one bridge could not be sufficiently determined and therefore an efficient alternative had to be found. Mammoet’s creative solution was the installation of an overbridge.
A crane needed to be positioned at a suitable distance from the center of the bridge, so Mammoet utilized a 100t capacity mobile crane to install the 12m bridge raft over the bridge’s 9m spans.
Another challenge on the route was the range of steep gradients, both up and downhill, that the convoy needed to negotiate.
It was an opportunity for the Trojan trucks to demonstrate the strength of their capacities as they operated at their maximum gradient.
As there is no limit to the number of prime movers that can be added to a convoy with the Trojans, Mammoet was able to further utilize the capabilities of the innovative trucks by adding a third prime mover for transportation through Farr Windfarm. This route between the public highway and the substation spanned almost 18km and its constant bends and varying gradients made it the most complex part of the transportation.
On the Trojan trucks, steering, braking, electrics, engine, and transmissions are synchronized by a computer, enabling each to be matched across the vehicles and numerous elements to be controlled identically.
This made them the most efficient vehicles to assist with traction during this section of transportation.
Mammoet transported the transformers over 35km before installing them at the substation with the operation being completed in 12 days. Mammoet’s innovative solutions and the unique abilities of the Trojan truck ensured that this challenging operation could be completed as efficiently as possible.
