Getting the electricity generated from photovoltaic or wind turbines to where it’s needed requires cables – very long cables. With a team of over 100 specialists, Energieanlagen Ramonat realises cable routes all over the world: from planning to installation and maintenance to dismantling and disposal.

Depending on the cable design and length, which can be up to two kilometres, the weights of the cable drums range from 55 tons at present to around 100 tons in the future. In addition to the high load weight, the voluminous drum dimensions also need to be taken into account – both during transport to the construction site and during subsequent manoeuvring on different construction site topographies, during uncoiling for example.

“If the width of the cable reels is still moving between 4 metres and 5 metres today, soon it will be between 8 metres and 12 metres,” says managing director Stefan Ramonat.

To transport these kinds of loads, the cable expert mainly uses Goldhofer THP/SL-L heavy-duty modules with vessel bridges. They not only offer an optimal dead weight-to-payload ratio and numerous combinations, they also promise high torsional stiffness and exceptional off-road capability. In addition, the use of self-propelled units (ADDRIVE) is possible, increasing operational flexibility at lower investment costs.

To cope with the increasingly high-volume cable loads of the future, Goldhofer experts are currently working to develop an optimised vessel bridge to accommodate an unwinding device for drums weighing up to 100 t.
Parallel to this, concepts are being developed for motors with synchronised drive for jerk-free cable unwinding at the installation site.

Ramonat added, “The combination of the THP/SL-L modules with the vessel bridges, which are only 450, 500 or 650 mm high and up to 13 metres long, is the optimum heavy transport solution for our cable drums. It is flexible to use, highly available, and has already saved us many time-consuming detours.”