It is reported that global wind power company Vestas Towers AS has selected Konecranes to supply 56 cranes for its new wind turbine tower manufacturing facility in Pueblo in Colorado.

This will be the second plant Vestas has built in Colorado. The first, located in Windsor manufactures the blade section of the company's wind turbine line. Vestas has targeted completion of the tower manufacturing facility for October 2009.

The order includes both Konecranes CXT and SM Spacemaker type cranes, ranging in capacity from 10 to 45 US tonnes, with spans up to 33 meters. The cranes will be used throughout the tower manufacturing process. Four outdoor, cab operated cranes feature SM Spacemaker heavy hoists, three equipped with semi automation and DynAPilot anti sway control systems.

These cranes will receive the incoming steel plates and flanges that arrive by railcar and place them into a storage area with a coordinate axis grid system. DynAPilot's teachable destination feature will assist the operator to take the outdoor cranes to predetermined locations along the three 155 feet runways where product is stored. The operator then picks up the material, manually loading it on a conveyor.

Inside the production facility the cranes are used to handle steel plates in the cutting, rolling, welding and painting operations. Many of the cranes are configured with magnet systems. Konecranes will also supply all of the rail, over 4.4 kilometers worth, plus 8.8 kilometers of conductor bar and all of the disconnect switches. The installation construction and load testing will be staged over several months from April to August 2009.