Alimak Hek at world’s largest solar facility

Three Alimak construction hoists have recently been put to work on the world’s largest solar power facility. The Alimak Scando 650 passenger and material hoists were use in the construction of three 140 m solar receivers/boiler towers at the Ivanpah Solar Generating Facility in the Mohave Desert, US.

The three dual hoist cars offered a payload of 3,200 kg and a lifting height of 140 m to provide vertical access for both men and materials during the construction of the solar receivers / boiler towers.

Alimak Hek worked with Bechtel Power & Bechtel Equipment to perform an engineering evaluation and specified the Alimak Scando 650 FC 32/32 II system for this project. Travelling at 54 m/min, the hoists have a 1.5 m wide x 3.2 m long x 2.3 m high car size, which was more than sufficient to transport site workers and bulky palletized materials to working height.

The Alimak machines were anchored to structural steel at 12 m intervals and the mast was allowed to extend above the deck 12 m to allow for access when the modular components were hoisted.

Ivanpah Solar Power Facility is the world’s largest solar thermal power plant currently in operation. The project is located in Ivanpah Dry Lake, California on more than 1,600 hectares. When complete, the station will produce 390 MW of electricity for more than 140,000 customers of Pacific Gas & Electric Company and Southern California Edison by using 173,500 heliostats (mirrors) that will reflect sunlight to the three boilers that sit atop the 140 m towers. The high temperature steam will then be piped from the boilers to a turbine were electricity is generated.