One out of five homes in Australia already uses wind energy

Australia continues its work to bring its energy sources in line with international requirements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Although 51% of the electricity produced at the end of 2021 still came from burning coal, 29% was already generated by renewable sources, and 19.1% came from wind, according to the Australian Energy Statistics 2022 prepared by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, The Environment and Water.

Over the last few years, there has been an increased commitment to wind energy, which is inexhaustible and does not produce any type of waste in its production, to the point where there are now 75 active wind farms in the country. This means that Australia now has 1% of all the installations in the world. To these must be added the new wind farm off the coast of Gippsland, in south-east Victoria, the country's first offshore wind farm, which was approved in August, and which will soon be joined by another six (Hunter Valley and Illawarra in New South Wales; in Portland, Victoria; in northern Tasmania; in Perth; and in Bunbury in Western Australia).

In this context, where wind energy is increasingly being used as a means of meeting the challenges posed by the Paris Agreement -the reduction of global warming by 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial era-, Sarens, global specialist in heavy lifting, engineered transport and crane rental, would like to raise the importance of having the necessary specialised personnel and machinery to guarantee safety and efficiency in the installation of new wind farms, while ensuring the correct preventive and corrective maintenance of existing wind farms to avoid downtime in the event of breakdowns, which could damage the energy production sent to the grid.

Both in the case of conventional wind farms and in the case of the new offshore modality, it’s necessary to transport loads that sometimes exceed 100 metres in length and 1,000 tons in weight, lift them safely and contribute to their placement in their final location, reducing the time required in the entire operation to achieve an optimisation of total costs. Sarens has extensive experience in all these tasks, having participated in hundreds of similar projects around the world, and has the capacity to offer advice and collaboration in all phases of the project, and to choose the optimum machinery for each phase.

Sarens is currently participating in some of the most important projects in the world, such as Saint-Nazaire in France, Provence Grand Large or more recently, in the lifting and transport of the foundation bases of the new offshore wind farm in Saint Brieuc, off the Brittany coast, where it has been able to transport loads of more than 1,150 tons.

Those works demonstrate how important is having specialists able to ensure the viability of the project, minimize cost reduction and efficiency throughout the implementation phase. Sarens will continue putting its efforts to provide companies and public institutions with the necessary tools to enable the wind industry to continue to expand throughout the region, and to move closer to its international environmental goals.

Sarens is the global leader and reference in crane rental, heavy lift and engineered transportation services. With state-of-the-art equipment, value engineering, one of the world's largest inventories of cranes, transporters and special rigging equipment, Sarens offers creative and intelligent solutions to today's heavy lifting and engineering transport challenges.

With more than 100 entities in 65 countries operating without borders, Sarens is an ideal partner for small to large-scale projects. Sarens currently employs 4,543 highly qualified professionals who are ready to serve the needs of any client worldwide and in all market sectors. https://www.sarens.com/