The transport of parts and equipment is one of the most critical aspects of renewables installations and can account for a substantial amount of the total cost — for onshore wind farms, transport represents about 7 to 10 per cent of project expenditure.
Renewables developers face unique logistical challenges around the transport of individual components and the management of various specialised equipment, which can be further exacerbated by disruptions in global supply chains, requiring thorough planning to reduce the associated risks, complexities and costs.
This planning includes not only the efficient transport of components, but also transport of all supplies to the project site, ensuring imports and exports comply with regulations, and potential storage needs for materials.
According to consultancy group McKinsey, renewables developers and OEMs will have to tackle several challenges in order to mitigate risk and build more resilient supply chains.
McKinsey explained: “The installation of new wind and solar capacity is going to require a lot of talent and a lot of machinery — yet developers often face a shortage of both.”
Material stockpiling and storage can help reduce the number of unforeseen events during the construction of a renewable energy project, particularly for solar photovoltaic projects which have a highly systematic installation process.
Most photovoltaic components are imported from manufacturers in Asia and require early procurement when demand is high.
A key challenge entrenched in transport is to reduce carbon footprints, a factor that is especially relevant to renewables projects.
About 10 per cent of a project’s overall carbon emissions are from the installation and transportation phases and require strategies to reduce environmental impacts, particularly during the transportation phase.
Some solutions include optimisation of the logistics process such as positioning production plants closer to renewables locations or grouping shipments of different components and projects to reduce the amount of freight.
New propulsion technologies such as ships powered by ammonia (which can be produced from green hydrogen) or electric motors can also substantially reduce the carbon footprint of project logistics, while enhancements for road transport include electric vehicles as well as route planning, load consolidation, and vehicle sharing.
A common element across logistics for renewables projects is the size of the components and equipment, which often need specialised transport, further compounded by the remoteness of many projects.
“The installation of new wind and solar capacity is going to require a lot of talent and a lot of machinery — yet developers often face a shortage of both.”
The weight and dimensions of wind turbines are growing increasingly larger to improve efficiency, however, this can make their mobility more complicated and even become a limiting factor in their design. Manufacturers of offshore wind components tend to house their facilities in areas with easy access to sea or river transport, from where they can be transported to a marshalling harbour to be assembled and transferred to the project area via the installation vessel.
Onshore wind farms also have specific transport challenges, often being situated in areas with high elevation and steep access slopes.
Specialised vehicles are needed to transport components, not only for blades but also shovels, which can reach more than 80 metres and weigh several tens of tonnes.
Last year, wind developer ACCIONA implemented a unique transport innovation at its McIntyre Wind Farm, using new trucks capable of transporting turbine blades weighing more than 29,000 kilograms.
This eliminated the need for long trailers and large internal access roads, allowing for more than 20,000 square metres of farmland and vegetation to be left undisturbed at the Queensland site.
ACCIONA Energia Director of Engineering and Construction Andrew Tshaikiwsky said the wind farm was built on rough country dominated by hills, ravines, vegetation and rock, and it was a lot of work to build internal access roads to transport turbine blades for the project.
He added: “With this Australian-first equipment, we can now transport turbine blades around the project site and greatly reduce the amount of roadwork and clearing.”
The new technology has been dubbed the ‘blade manipulators’, and ACCIONIA is using similar technology in Peru to navigate roads passing through towns and mountains.
Each of the blade manipulators uses a large hydraulically-driven device mounted on an Australian-manufactured 10-axle trailer, which is capable of transporting a single 80-metre blade.
The blade can be raised up to 40 degrees, lifting the blade over vegetation and obstacles and allowing it to easily take tight corners before being lowered back down.
It is estimated the new transport solution will reduce the earthworks and soil disturbance required by 250,000 cubic metres across the project’s 200 kilometres of internal roads.
Tshaikiwsky said: “These new blade transport trucks are a marvel of engineering – we no longer require long rigid trailers that are difficult to move around site.
“With this new transport method, we can use much shorter transport vehicles and greatly reduce the amount of cut and fill needed on internal access roads, reducing the footprint of the wind farm overall.
“Lots of projects around the country have rough terrain and we can see technology like this being deployed in the field all over Australia as the industry works to minimise the environmental footprints of projects.”