Big jobs require big machinery, from heavy-haul trucks on the ground to gargantuan cranes that lift structures way up in the sky. This is a story about the latter; specifically, a Liebherr LR 11350Â that was used to erect the world’s tallest wind turbine in Germany. Every step of the process was impressive in terms of scale, with the structure’s highest point reaching 365 meters. (That’s 1,198 feet or 3.99 football fields in freedom units.)
The construction crew tasked the crane with lifting lots of heavy components, but the heaviest was a section of the turbine tower weighing—get this—826,733 pounds. That’s equivalent to nearly 86 GMC Hummer EVs. On its own, this one piece measured approximately 131 feet tall, wide, and high, and the LR 11350 had to lift it onto a 164-foot-high base structure.
When lifting such insanely hefty components so high, you also have to make sure there’s plenty of bulk at the crane’s base. That’s why 1,873,910 pounds of ballast were added to keep the construction equipment from toppling over. You can imagine the risk of sway these teams encountered, especially as they hoisted structures designed to harness wind in a wide-open field. Liebherr’s press release says they waited several days to install the three blades within 12 hours, reaching up to the rotor height of 558 feet.
Pretty much every statistic about this job is impressive. According to Liebherr, the rotor alone measures 413 feet in diameter; the largest Giant Sequoia tree by volume, General Sherman, is only 38 feet around at its base. And the structure itself is the second-highest in all of Germany after the Berlin TV tower. It’s only 50 feet short of matching the Empire State Building, but rather than standing shoulder to shoulder with other skyscrapers in New York City, it’s harnessing energy in Lusatia, Brandenburg.
So next time you think of modern engineering marvels, make sure you consider this Liebherr LR 11350 alongside the Bugattis and Koenigseggs of the world. Executing a job like this takes way more planning and expertise than I’ll ever comprehend.
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