The Cuenca-based heavy lift and haulage company Elecaustro was commissioned to plan and construct the country’s largest wind farm. The Colombian company Transportes Montejo was awarded the transportation contract, and they used a Goldhofer Transport Technology, Goldhofer FTV 550 blade lifter in the process.

Located in Loja Province, the 50 MW Minas de Huascachaca wind farm comprises 14 wind turbines. It will supply 90,000 households with electricity. The Goldhofer FTV 550 blade lifter has a load moment of 550 metric tonnes and was thus used to transport the 73 metres long 4 MW Dongfang wind turbine up the winding road leading to the construction site on a mountain plateau in the Andes.

The blades could therefore be freely rotated around their own axis in order to keep them out of the wind during transport, as well as angled up to a maximum angle of 60° to avoid obstacles en route. This minimised the need for adjusting roadside infrastructure.