- Goldwind and Jinli Heavy Industry (Jinli) recently completed China’s first crane-free replacement for main components on a wind turbine using its self-developed self-lifting smart equipment.
The JLL560 self-hosting crane, jointly developed by Jinli Heavy Industry and Goldwind, completed its first full-scale test at the Liuyuan Wind Farm in Gansu, China. Designed for replacing key wind turbine components like gearboxes and generators, the crane successfully handled the full process of removing, replacing, and reinstalling the gearbox of a Goldwind GWH204-6.7WM turbine without using a main crane.
This test marks a breakthrough in China’s smart maintenance equipment for large capacity wind turbines and will significantly reduce reliance on large cranes for major component replacement, potentially bring down O&M costs by 50%.
Image credit: Jinli
The industry faces a wave of larger wind turbines. Onshore units over 6MW are now common, while offshore turbines exceed 20MW. Hub heights often surpass 190 meters, and blades stretch beyond 100 meters. This growth brings challenges like high maintenance costs for large parts.
Wind turbines lose over 100,000 yuan per day when gearboxes or generators fail. Traditional crane lifting setups take 14-28 days to prepare, plus extra time for heavy equipment transport and road construction. These delays cause costly downtime and lost power generation.
The JLL560 self-hoisting crane uses an integrated modular design. Onshore turbines need only two trailers and a 100-ton truck crane. Offshore turbines require just a small floating crane. This setup handles equipment transport, self-installation, and part replacement with surgical precision, greatly cutting replacement costs.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
