Crane pads engineering and construction handbook. Copyright STOWA

Due to the pandemic this year we have been forced to go on vacation by car – the majority of flights from Germany to southern Italy have been cancelled, so we are making a 2000+ Km car trip with our three kids.

While my wife was driving I searched something to read and I have found something unexpected and extremely interesting: a 121 pages handbook only on wind farm crane pads!

The owner of the document is a bit unusual – STOWA, the Dutch knowledge centre of the regional water managers. However it makes sense if you consider that many projects in the Netherlands are on reclaimed lands and water authorities and municipalities are involved in the permitting process.

Behind the document there is a supervisory committee composed by the very best wind companies in the country, such as Fugro, ABT, H4A, Tencate and many others.

They will give you a very detailed view on the topic: after an introductory section describing the standard wind turbines and cranes now in the market the handbook describe in detail the process, from the geotechnical investigations to the design to the execution, operation and maintenance.

I have worked personally with some of the authors and I can guarantee you that they are very experienced professionals, so this is an extremely valuable document.