Wind Turbine Blade Transport: A Comprehensive Guide

1. Wind Turbine Blade Transport Basically A Quick Rundown
2. How Does Wind Turbine Blade Transportation Work?
3. Role of Expert and Reliable Carriers!
4. Why Should You Transport Wind Turbine Blade Carefully?
5. Reasons to Hire a Carrier For Wind Turbine Blade Transport
6. Types of Trailers For Wind Turbine Blade Transport
7. Transportation through Ordinary Extendable Trailer
8. Transportation through Specialized Trailer
9. Ordinary Trailer Vs Specialized Trailer - Which Is Affordable?
10. Factors Affecting Wind Turbine Blade Transport
11. The Condition of Mountains Wind Farm Roads
12. Ecological and Geographical Factors
13. How To Optimize Your Wind Turbine Blade Transport Process?
14. The Final Verdict

Transporting a wind turbine blade means a flash of lightning that burns down your hard-earned money. Along with not ending transporting expenses, it can cause a bundle of other losses.

In Vesta's wind systems transport manual, wind turbine blade transportation is linked to the loss of revenue, equipment damage, incidents, and damages caused by wrong equipment management during transportation.

Moreover, various factors lead to wind turbine blade accidents. According to wind turbine accident data till 31 December 2021, 270 accidents have been reported. The falling of equipment or wind turbine parts from the transporters caused severe accidents in the past.

Therefore, instead of taking risks, choosing reliable and committed transporters for carrying wind turbine blades is the safest and most cost-effective decision.

So, let's dive deep to find more about wind turbine blade transport and how you can carry safe transportation while keeping your pockets warm.

Wind Turbine Blade Transport Basically: A Quick Rundown

Wind turbine blades are massively giant, around 50 meters long, 56 tonnes heavy, and 162 feet wide. Their transportation between two locations, whether they are warehouses, cities, or even countries, is not a task of ordinary shipping companies. One needs to be completely equipped with the latest technologies to transport such significant materials from one location to another at the appropriate time.

The different parts of wind turbine blades are delivered through various transporting means like rail, roads, ships, or airways. But, the whole transportation plan can take more than one year. You can not simply get them repaired or exchanged in a few days.

So, either the government is setting up a new wind turbine or repairing the turbine's blade; transporting them is the most challenging part.

How Does Wind Turbine Blade Transportation Work?

Undoubtedly, wind turbine blade transport is certainly not a piece of cake. You not only require a lot of resources and finances but have to take permits and documentation for this process. Additionally, it can take more than a year to complete (And no, we are not talking about repairing or exchanging the blades, just transport!).

Wind turbine blades might be transported through trucks, ships, and rails. But when it comes to the bigger and heavier blades than usual, the struggle multiplies. Therefore, transporting the edge into multiple parts is also a practical option.

But whatever the process you choose, you require a complete network of appliances, technologies, transporting mediums, and other factors that can help you make your transport successful. This may include experienced drivers, multiple heavy trucks, engineering teams, survey teams, etc.

Role of Expert and Reliable Carriers!

I suppose you might be wrong if you think you can transport wind turbine blades with two or three trucks and drivers from one location to another. A whole team of experts should have experience dealing with wind turbines before making your transport successful.

So, why waste your time contacting the truck drivers individually and looking for carrier companies? Wind Turbine Blade Transport can be accessible and less time-consuming if you seek professional help. They are equipped with the latest technology, strategies, and routes to help you.

A reliable carrier will help you in:

• Surveying the routes and nearby locations.
• Understanding the flow of traffic from your routes.
• Giving you the alternatives of the routes.
• Help you in taking permits of the transport.
• Assist you in documentation work.

Why Should You Transport Wind Turbine Blade Carefully?

Besides finances and heavy machinery, traffic flow is the biggest challenge in transporting the wind turbine blade. The heavy and multiple trucks carrying massive wind turbine parts affect the traffic and the people living in the nearby areas.

These trucks can block emergency routes, and a minor inconvenience or mishandling can make the process quite damage-causing, expensive, and time-consuming.

Therefore,

• If you want the process to take some less thousand dollars
• Need expert suggestions for the route and traffic flows
• Wants to have permits and complete documentation work effectively and quickly

Then consult professional carriers with all the resources and strategies to make your wind turbine blade transport effectual, quick yet straightforward.

Reasons to Hire a Carrier For Wind Turbine Blade Transport:

To achieve the best results for all your efforts and finances, getting professional help is the best option. Transporting such heavy and massive blades is undoubtedly not a place to try experiments; therefore, let the experts handle it more effectively.

Some of the reasons why you should look for a reliable and expert carrier instead of doing everything by yourself are as follows:

• Quick And Reliable:

Yes, time is one of the most critical factors. Although transporting wind turbine blades can take months and sometimes years, many seasons can cause trouble. For example, if you are going for wind road mountains and the season is winter, the snowfall can block your route.

• Make Effective And Best Routes:

The professional team of carriers is already aware of the locations of the wind turbines and all the possible and favorable routes they can have. So, you don't have to make the routes and survey all the locations by yourself. The experts of carriers will do it by themselves and make it less time-taking and easy to have an effective route for you.

• They Know All The Alternatives:

The carriers are already experienced with wind turbine blade transport; they know all the effective routes, strategies, and alternatives. So, whether it's traffic, big houses, bridges, tunnels, or mountains, they are experts in dealing with all kinds of obstacles and are well-prepared for it. Before starting the process, they will remove every possible barrier and prepare for the unexpected ones.

• Best Trucks And Experienced Drivers:

Instead of finding trucks and drivers by yourself, consult a carrier's company so they can make your word easier. They have multiple trucks and experienced drivers that are trained to drive trucks in such a way that saves your blades and other wind turbine parts. They know every road type and how to handle trucks on such roads.

• Cost-Effective And Fastest Deliveries:

If you hire carriers for your wind turbine blade transport, you can save thousands of dollars. Instead of individually hiring an engineering team, drivers, trucks, and other resources, getting professional help will be cost-effective. In short, you will be getting high-quality services that are not only effective and quick but pocket-friendly also.

• Experience The Better Management:

By hiring a carrier company, you can get your work done effectively. Without having any communication gap or misunderstanding about the tasks, you can get your wind turbine blade transported adequately. If you are looking for a constructive way to transport your blades, hire a carrier and experience the best management in your teams.

Types of Trailers For Wind Turbine Blade Transport:

The wind industry is evolving with every passing second, making it more simple yet advanced at the same time. And to implement these advanced strategies and effective tactics, the help of professionals and experts in the industry is equally mandatory.

So, the industry experts have buildup two types of trailers for quick wind turbine blade transport. Let's discuss them one by one.

1. Transportation through Ordinary Extendable Trailer:

This ordinary trailer can extend longitudinally according to the length of the turbine blades. They are a good source of transporting these heavy blades, but they can be trouble while turning on roads because of their extended length.

So, their use solely depends upon the route to your dropping location of the blades. If the route is straight or with small turns, it is an affordable choice. If your route has mountains, hills, and a lot of turns, then the next trailer could be a perfect choice for your wind turbine blade transport.

2. Transportation through Specialized Trailer:

This trailer is the best option to have a journey without restrictive obstacles like slopes, mountains, trees, houses, tunnels, bridges, and others. This specialized trailer can give you a better experience for wind turbine blade transport as it has a blade-lifting-hydraulic rear steering wheel. It can lift the blade during driving to save it from any possible harm and allow 360 degrees of rotation.

This transporting trailer also has a length-extending feature, but the flexibility of rotations and lifting makes it a perfect and preferably secure choice for every kind of route.

Ordinary Trailer Vs. Specialized Trailer - Which Is Affordable?

Well, the difference is clear! The ordinary provides you with a non-flexible way of wind turbine blade transport. And, of course, it is cheaper than transportation through a non-specialized trailer.

Comparatively, a specialized trailer is more expensive than the ordinary one. But its advantages are covering all the restrictions and obstacles you are facing in using an ordinary one. It is less time0taking and doesn't urge you to go for an alternative route.

So, if you are confused about choosing transportation through these two trailers, survey your routes and look for your budget.

If your depot area is away from the city, but your wind turbine is in the town, you can use an ordinary trailer to a common transferring point. You will use the normal trailer on the straight roads of the city, and when it ends, and the mountains and hills start, you transfer your blades to the specialized trailer and save it from every obstacle.

It could be time-consuming but money-saving at the same time.

Factors Affecting Wind Turbine Blade Transport

As we all know now, wind turbine blades are one of the biggest things to transport and move, whether for exchanging them or repairing the damaged one, not only requires a lot of machines, trucks, finances, and workforce.

But some of the factors can affect your wind turbine blade transport, and you should be concerned about them too! Let's have a glimpse of them.

1. The Condition of Mountains Wind Farm Roads:

One of the primary reasons for having mountain wind farm roads is wind turbines' easy and quick transport. The streets are built right according to the needs of these heavy and prolonged wind turbines.

But if these roads are not in good condition, they can make your process more troubling rather than simplifying it. Even if the streets are straight, you might have to use the specialized trailer for stability and save travel.

2. Ecological and Geographical Factors:

Environment and location-based factors are among the most influencing elements for wind turbine blade transport, whether through ordinary trailer or specialized one. These heavy trailers with massively bulky blades can damage the environment.

So, while surveying the route and surrounding area, pay attention to the natural locations and materials and try to make a route that doesn't cause any damage to any biological factors. Plus, take every possible strategy to save the environment from harm.

How To Optimize Your Wind Turbine Blade Transport Process?

If you want to transport your wind turbine blades successfully, follow a few tactics that can help you get productive outcomes.

1. Plan a route far from the natural obstacles like bridges, tunnels, trees, mountains, and hills.
2. Estimate your budget and choose the type of trailer according to your route's condition.
3. Choose professional and experienced drivers who know the routes and know how to drive effectively.
4. Before getting on the transportation of the blades, figure out all the alternative routes and strategies for emergencies.
5. Keep the best engineering help while transporting so you can save your blades from every mechanical, electrical, or any other kind of damage.

The Final Verdict

Wind turbine blade transport is a time-taking and complex process. From getting permits to documentation, from choosing trucks to delivering blades to the drop location, it requires checks and balances to make the procedure successful and productive.

However, by taking adequate measures and successful optimization, you can reduce the finances, time, and workforce to get the best outcomes for your wind turbine blade transport.