SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND
PORT TO PROJECT LOGISTICS FOR WINDFARMS. PRACTICAL ASSESSMENT OF IMPACTS ON TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE Available in ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Nick Canto icubed consulting
Roderick Hetherington icubed consulting
The construction of wind farms requires the delivery of hundreds of OverSize Over-Mass (OSOM) components from a port of entry to the project site often located in regional and remote areas. Queensland has not seen a high penetration of constructed wind farms as of June 2021, however this is set to change at an accelerated rate in the next decade as the State and National electricity grids are de-carbonised and fossil fuel generators reach the end of their design operating lives.
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Road impacts that are more localised to the project area are associated with the construction of the “Balance of Plant” elements. That is access roads, installation hardstands, footings, substations, and electrical reticulation. These are substantial assets in their own right with each turbine requiring a reinforced concrete footing in the order of 600-700cubic meters in volume and a 1.0Ha hardstand capable of accommodating mobile cranes with a lifting capacity of up to 1000 tonnes. Delivery of the constituent ingredients can often have a more significant impact on pavements given the intensity of these deliveries that often traverse LOR’s. Heavy Vehicles and Road Network Impacts Over 80% of the freight task associated with the construction of a wind farm is comprised of normal Heavy Vehicle Transporters, which are allowed to operate unrestricted on Australian roads every day. Where the selected route permits, there are benefits in deploying prescribed vehicles including B-Doubles and Type A Road Trains operating Higher Mass Limits. While not essential, any measures that reduce the number of interactions with other road users is a reasonable approach. However, this is not always possible due to network limits on existing pavements and or structures on the required route.
The operational phase of a completed wind farm has little to no impact upon road networks due to limited traffic generation. As such, any upgrades required to facilitate construction of any given project will be adequate for these purposes. During the construction phase, major routes used for the delivery of heavy aggregates should be subject to a well-conceived construction phase traffic management plan (TMP) due to them contributing most of the heavy vehicle movements. The most significant contribution to network upgrades is associated with component delivery using the OSOM fleet configurations described in Section 5.1 of this paper. Turbine classes being delivered into the Australian Market at this time require the transport route from the port to site to observe some key parameters; • Vertical Curves – 500m but up to 700m VC limit depending on the trailer configuration – Existing Causeways are typically an issue • Horizontal Curves – 120m when the road pavement width is 6.0m or more • T-Junctions* – 60m truncations • Cross fall, 3% Crown and not more than 5% superelevation or adverse cross fall • Road Width 6.0m, allows Beam Trailers to operate on a 5.0m outer track width.
ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS | MARCH 2022
