Onshore
KINKA-LIFT
A self-erecting platform that lifts and replaces wind turbine components at hub heights conventional cranes cannot reach. Sensor-informed feedback, operator-directed control, and a structural load path that bypasses the existing tower.
A real project, modeled
2.7 MW turbines, seventy units, conventional crane installation versus KINKA-LIFT. Numbers are USD; EUR figures shown in parentheses.
Conventional install
$36M (€33M)
Mobile cranes, full project
KINKA-LIFT
$18.6M (€17M)
Same project, scaled platform
Saved
$17.4M (48%)
38% faster than schedule
How it scales
Conventional cranes scale exponentially with height. Lifting 100 tons to 10 meters uses a 100- or 200-ton crane. Lifting the same load to 100 meters needs a crane five to ten times larger. KINKA-LIFT scales linearly: the same rated system reaches 100, 200, or 300 meters by adding chord sections, with no step up to a larger capacity class.
A small crane lifts to roughly thirty meters to load components onto the elevating platform. Above that, KINKA-LIFT carries the lift. The existing tower is not in the load path; structural chords route the load to the foundation directly.
What it does
- New build installations
- Major component replacement (MCR), including blades, gearboxes, generators
- Tower section replacement
- Full repowering
- Decommissioning
- Recommissioning, including reuse of existing towers
Site-specific designs
Reference designs delivered for the platforms below. Additional platform support is available on request.
2.7 MW
Siemens Gamesa
4.2 MW
Vestas
6.1 MW
GE Vernova
Operational advantages
- OEM-agnostic. No tower modification required.
- No road reinforcement. Site preparation is minimal.
- Around 90% smaller construction footprint than crane operations.
- Around 75% fewer truckloads to site.
- Wider operational weather windows. More working days.
- Reuses idle local equipment and labor.