Kent-based Hawks Crane Hire has used the UK’s first Kobelco CKE2500G-2 crane to help deliver the Sandford Lock Hydro scheme, at the Lasher Weir on the River Thames near Oxford.

The community energy scheme, which is due for completion in mid-2017, will use three Archimedes screws to generate 1600MWh of renewable electricity per year from the run-of-the-river scheme.

Installation of the three Archimedes screws, which weigh 21.6t each, saw them floated from a wharf in Sandford across the river to the Lasher Weir. At this point the CKE2500G-2, working together with a CKE900G-2, lifted them into position within the main concrete structure of the weir.

“Access to the site was a real problem,” said Elliot Hawkins, managing director at Hawks Crane Hire. “Not only when it came to moving the Archimedes screws, but also, thanks to a very low bridge, getting the cranes on site too. We looked at several options and the low profiles and compact dimensions of the Kobelco CKE2500G-2 was the only crane that would fit under the bridge.”

Once on site the new Kobelco CKE2500G-2, which has a maximum lifting capacity of 250t at 4.6m and a maximum boom length of 91.4m, was put to work straight away lifting the Archimedes screws.

The initial lift and final positioning of the screws, saw the CKE2500G-2 rigged with 39.6m of main boom lifting the screws to a 30m radius.

The CKE2500G-2 was also fitted with Kobelco’s KCross remote operation management system, which helps to maximise machine efficiency and uptime.

Mark Evans, Kobelco sales manager, said: “Machines fitted with the KCross system transmit working conditions, location and maintenance history to provide owners with fact-based information that gives tremendous advantages for their asset management.”

Once finished working at the Sandford Lock Hydro scheme, Hawks Crane Hire’s new Kobelco CKE2500G-2 crane will be put to work straight away on another job. “After this the CKE2500G-2 will be put to work in Richmond, London where it’ll be lifting 25t silos to a height of 60m for a brewery using its luffing jib. Demand is high throughout London and the southeast and I expect we’ll be adding to our fleet of nine cranes in the next 12 months,” said Hawkins.

 

This news item originally appeared on Cranes Today