Renewed Crane Range Lifts Offshore Wind Industry to the Next Level

To improve safety and efficiency of customers’ lifting operations during regular maintenance of offshore wind turbines, PALFINGER has launched the PF crane range, a renewed series of wind cranes. A full-scale PF120-4 crane type will be displayed from September 27 to 30 at the WindEnergy, the world's largest exhibition for the onshore and offshore wind industry in Hamburg, Germany.

Enhanced for the global offshore wind industry
The new range has been designed in accordance with the latest technical requirements of the European standard EN13852-3 for light offshore cranes and plays an important role in lifting spare parts and equipment in the daily offshore wind industry supply chain. “Because access to offshore wind farms is limited and every working hour must be efficiently used, we’ve made the new PF cranes highly resistant to the harsh environmental conditions. Furthermore, we reduced the maintenance effort to lower the life-cycle-costs for the wind park owner. The new crane range was designed based on more than fifteen years of installed base experience and feedback from service teams and our clients. It is therefore well positioned for the future requirements of the global offshore wind industry”, says Franz Schnöll, Head of Global Marine Product Management.

With the modular design and standardized reach from 3 to 7 meters, the redesigned crane can lift materials and tools from the crew transfer vessel (CTV) onto the transition piece (TP) platform of the wind turbines. Furthermore, it will be used during routine inspection and service work throughout the turbines' entire operational life. Beyond its compact design, each crane undergoes thorough function and load tests at the assembly plant before being delivered. This procedure ensures ‘plug and play delivery’ with the highest safety standard and minimized installation time.

250 PF orders and counting
So far, more than 250 of the new PALFINGER fixed boom cranes have been ordered and are scheduled to be delivered to the UK, Taiwan, USA, and Japan between Q4/2022 and Q2/2024. They will be installed on jacket and monopile bottom fixed structures as well as substations and used for servicing offshore wind turbines and other equipment installed on substations.