Duke Energy Renewables offers new lifting service for wind turbine repair, maintenance

Duke Energy Renewables has created a unique new service for wind energy producers, offering a zero-emission crane operation through Duke Energy Renewable Services to aid wind turbine repair and maintenance in the United States.

“Streamlining the wind turbine maintenance process to one call, one truck, one team, and in as little as one day is a new service, we’re thrilled to offer our commercial wind energy customers,” Jeff Wehner, vice president of Duke Energy Renewables, said. “U.S. wind power has more than tripled over the past decade. As wind energy resources continue to grow, utilizing more efficient maintenance services will help to optimize wind energy resources so that they produce the greatest amount of renewable energy possible.”

Traditionally, such work requires multiple cranes, widespread construction, and rigid schedules. This, Duke says, can bring added risk to projects pressing for on-time, on-budget operations. The company has therefore positioned its new service as one of efficiency, built on the back of the GenHook LT crane package from KenzFigee.

Under these arrangements, Duke would provide transport of the crane through a 40-foot shipping container. Whereas traditional cranes can take a whole day just to set up and another day for equipment removal, Duke notes that its cranes will move much quicker. They should also be safer, as they can reduce the number of contractors needed on-site and allow for repair of wind turbines up to 100 meters in the air, at wind speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. The cranes are also more environmentally friendly than much of their competition, as they are fully electric.

These crane offerings complement services for even larger projects, undertaken by Duke’s large corrective services, which work to service and replace major components in wind turbines over 100 meters tall.