COMANSA brings their industrial expertise in lifting technology to the wind energy sector

Comansa has joined forces with Navarra-based companies Nabrawind and Tetrace, to create Navassy, a joint-venture which has designed and manufactured the first automated lifting system for Nabralift 2.0 wind towers.

Comansa has demonstrated their capacity for diversification, beyond construction projects, by contributing its industrial knowledge and experience in lifting technology to the wind power sector, through the manufacture of the Nabralift tower self-raising system.

Navassy, which is a joint venture formed by Nabrawind, Tetrace and Comansa was created in November 2020 for the manufacturing and operating of the Nabralift automated lifting towers system, thanks to the knowledge that each of the partners bring to the table from their respective fields.

Comansa was commissioned to manufacture the new automated lifting system. The system underwent preliminary testing in their installations in Huarte (Navarra) before being relocated to Oualidia in Morocco. The Nabralift tower fitted with a Siemens 3.6 MW wind turbine and an already installed rotor was assembled in the wind farm which is being constructed by the French developer, InnoVent, and it is now the highest wind tower in Africa, with a hub height of 144 metres.

During the tower installation, it was more than apparent that this automated lifting system offers certain advantages that the standard cranes typically used for installing large wind turbines in this sector are unable to offer.

The tower was assembled amidst gusts of wind of up to 15 metres per second, thus demonstrating how this automated lifting system will be able to function during strong winds and minimise installation delays.

Likewise, the logistics of the automated lifting system are very straightforward and efficient. The whole system was transported using just 14 lorries, whereas if a standard crane had been used to install a tower with these dimensions, at least 40 lorries would have been required, several of which with special dimensions.

Once this first unit is complete, according to the Nabralift order backlog, Navassi will manufacture 8 of these automated lifting systems over the next six years. Comasa will be responsible for manufacturing the next automated lifting systems at their facilities in Spain and China.