Challenging power plant expansion

As part of a power plant expansion, Al Faris installed 16 double-wall heat recovery steam generators using its own Demag CC 3800-1 lattice boom crawler crane. “After considering the load weights and the required performance characteristics, it became clear that only a crane in the 650 tonne class would be able to get the job done. And the reason we ended up deciding on the Demag CC 3800-1 was that it met every single requirement better than all other machines, not to mention that we’re very familiar with its high reliability and incredible capabilities,” explained Al Faris founder and Managing Director Hilary Pinto.  It took a seven-person setup team made up of a crane operator, a supervisor, and five assembly technicians 20 hours to set up the crane with an SSL resp. SWSL configuration. “That really was a pretty amazing feat by our people. After all, the 66-meter-long boom couldn’t be assembled on the ground due to the SSL configuration and the limited space available, so they had to do it at height,” added Hilary Pinto. 

The project took a total of six months and consisted of transporting and setting up various power plant components, such as condensers, boilers, HRSG modules, generators, and tanks. To take care of this, Al Faris used special-purpose vehicles, including hydraulic trailers and various all-terrain and crawler cranes. The heaviest and most challenging lifts involved the 28-meter-long heat recovery steam generators, which weighed up to 80 tonnes. These HRSG units had to be brought to a height of just under 60 meters at a radius of 40 meters so that they could be installed. To do this, the Al Faris team used an SWSL configuration with a 48-meter main boom, a 36-meter fly jib, a Superlift counterweight of 165 tonnes with a radius of eleven meters. For the 16 lifts, the Demag CC 3800-1 was assisted by a 250-tonne crawler crane from Al Faris’ fleet: The latter picked up the heat recovery steam generatorsfrom one end so that the CC 3800-1 would be able to bring them to a vertical position. After this, the 250-tonne crane “unhanded” the load so that the CC 3800-1 would be able to travel under load with the corresponding HRSG unit and place it into the desired position. The Demag CC 3800-1 took about two months at the work site to complete these 16 lifts, as well as all other lifts, with an SWSL configuration.