Power plants are some of the most complex industrial facilities in the country. Whether a facility generates electricity through nuclear energy, hydroelectric power, natural gas, coal, or another source, its equipment can include extremely heavy pumps, motors, valves, turbines, generators, piping systems, shielding components, and electrical equipment.
Moving and servicing these components creates a unique lifting challenge. Permanent overhead cranes are useful in many areas of a power plant, but they cannot always reach confined mechanical rooms, lower levels, catwalks, cooling systems, temporary work areas, or equipment positioned behind existing infrastructure.
This is where portable aluminum gantry cranes can provide an important advantage.
Because aluminum gantries can combine substantial lifting capacity with relatively lightweight, portable construction, they can be brought into areas where larger permanent lifting equipment may not be practical. For power plant construction, scheduled maintenance, equipment replacement, plant modifications, and eventual decommissioning, that flexibility can make them an extremely useful lifting solution.
Why Aluminum Gantry Cranes Work Well Inside Power Plants
Power plants were not necessarily designed around every maintenance operation that will need to take place during the facility’s lifetime.
A pump may eventually need to be removed from a narrow mechanical room. A motor may need to be lifted from an elevated platform. Equipment may have to pass through a doorway or elevator. Existing electrical panels, pipes, walls, floor drains, and structural components can limit where conventional lifting equipment can be positioned.
Portable aluminum gantries help solve these problems because they can be configured around the work area rather than requiring the work area to accommodate a large permanent crane.
EC&MW manufactures portable aluminum gantry cranes for applications including nuclear power facilities, pumps, oil refineries, HVAC equipment, machinery, utilities, and other industrial environments.
A Better Strength-to-Weight Ratio for Portable Lifting
One of the primary reasons aluminum is attractive for power plant lifting applications is its combination of strength and relatively low equipment weight.
In many industrial applications, workers need substantial lifting capacity without bringing an extremely heavy steel structure into the facility.
A lighter gantry can be easier to:
- Transport into the plant
- Move between work areas
- Bring through doors and access points
- Transport in elevators
- Assemble near the lifting location
- Disassemble after the project
- Store between maintenance outages
This portability becomes particularly valuable during planned outages, when maintenance teams may be working within a limited schedule and numerous pieces of equipment require inspection, repair, or replacement.
Using Gantry Cranes During Power Plant Construction
During the construction or expansion of a power-generating facility, there are often locations where permanent lifting systems have not yet been installed or cannot reach the equipment being positioned.
Portable gantry cranes can assist with installation and positioning of pumps, motors, valves, piping components, electrical equipment, mechanical assemblies, and other machinery.
They may also be useful during later plant upgrades when the facility is already filled with equipment that was not present during the original construction.
The ability to configure the crane around existing infrastructure is particularly important in these situations.
Custom Gantries for Hydroelectric Power Facilities
Hydroelectric facilities provide an excellent example of why custom lifting equipment may be necessary.
EC&MW was contacted by Toshiba Corporation to design and manufacture 10 custom aluminum gantry cranes for the installation and maintenance of pumping equipment at a hydroelectric facility in Michigan.
The project required extensive manufacturing documentation and verification, including aluminum certifications, material tracking procedures, vendor letters of conformance, welding procedures, welder certifications, and load testing.
You can see this and other specialized applications in EC&MW’s custom gantry crane project gallery.
Projects like this demonstrate an important point: power plant lifting equipment may need to satisfy requirements far beyond basic lifting capacity.
Maintenance Is Where Portable Gantries Really Become Valuable
Power plants contain equipment that must be periodically maintained, repaired, rebuilt, or replaced throughout the facility’s operating life.
Common lifting applications may involve:
- Pumps and pump assemblies
- Electric motors
- Impellers
- Valves
- Compressors
- Generators
- Turbine-related components
- Heat exchanger components
- Cooling system equipment
- Piping assemblies
- Electrical equipment
The difficulty is often not the weight alone. Access can be the bigger problem.
EC&MW previously designed a custom 3,000-pound-capacity gantry for a nuclear power station in Illinois specifically for changing and servicing impellers and pumps. The work area contained numerous floor drains, creating an uneven operating surface. The crane was therefore designed with an All-Terrain-style base configuration to accommodate the application.
This is exactly why custom aluminum gantry cranes can be especially valuable in power generation facilities. The crane can be engineered around the plant rather than forcing maintenance personnel to work around the limitations of a standard crane.
Custom Aluminum Gantries in Nuclear Power Plants
Nuclear facilities can present some of the most specialized lifting requirements in the energy industry.
Restricted access, extensive piping, electrical panels, shielding, floor penetrations, radiation-control areas, and strict documentation requirements can all influence crane design.
EC&MW has manufactured multiple custom aluminum gantry cranes for nuclear facilities.
One project involved Seabrook Station in New Hampshire. The nuclear facility needed a custom lifting system for cooling tower maintenance and repair.
A conventional freestanding gantry would not work within the available area. The application required a crane capable of safely handling a 5,000-pound load while providing more than 13 feet of clearance under the beam within a confined workspace.
The solution had to be designed around the facility itself.
Why Aluminum Gantries Are Important During Power Plant Decommissioning
Eventually, power-generating facilities may reach the end of their operational life.
Decommissioning can create lifting challenges that are very different from routine maintenance.
Equipment that remained untouched for decades may need to be removed. Permanent crane systems may no longer be available, convenient, or positioned where dismantling work is occurring. Walls, shielding, machinery, piping, and structural components may be removed in stages.
The work environment continually changes as the facility is dismantled.
Portable gantry cranes can be moved and reconfigured as work progresses, making them particularly useful for specialized decommissioning projects.
An 8,000-Pound Gantry Built for Nuclear Decommissioning
EC&MW has firsthand experience designing lifting equipment for this type of application.
For one nuclear facility in Alabama, EC&MW designed a custom aluminum gantry crane for nuclear facility decommissioning.
The crane was engineered for a highly specialized lift involving an approximately 8,000-pound concrete shielding plug that formed part of the facility’s nuclear infrastructure.
Unlike a general-purpose crane expected to remain in service for years, this crane was engineered around one highly specific lifting requirement.
Once that lift was completed, the crane had accomplished the purpose for which it had been designed.
This highlights one of the greatest advantages of working with a specialized gantry manufacturer: sometimes the appropriate lifting solution is not a standard catalog product.
Working Around Electrical Panels, Walls and Existing Infrastructure
Power plants contain a tremendous amount of infrastructure that cannot simply be moved to make room for a crane.
Electrical cabinets, conduit, piping, platforms, structural supports, control systems, and other permanent installations may dictate exactly where crane legs can be positioned.
EC&MW has designed nuclear-facility gantries with modified leg configurations specifically to clear immovable electrical panels.
Other projects have required split beams because a full-length beam could not physically be transported through the facility to the lifting location.
This ability to adjust beam length, leg design, height, base configuration, caster type, and other features is one of the reasons custom gantry engineering is so valuable in the energy industry.
Documentation and Load Testing Matter in Power Generation
Industrial power-generation customers may require substantially more documentation than someone purchasing a crane for a general lifting application.
Depending on project requirements, documentation may include:
- Material certifications
- Certificates of conformance
- Engineering documentation
- Welder certifications
- Welding procedures
- Component documentation
- Load testing records
EC&MW can provide various forms of manufacturing and engineering documentation upon request at the time of manufacture. This can be particularly important for utilities, nuclear facilities, government projects, engineering firms, and other organizations with strict procurement and quality-control requirements.
Major Power Plants in the United States
The United States operates thousands of utility-scale generating facilities using nuclear, hydroelectric, natural gas, coal, wind, solar, and other energy sources.
Some of the country’s most significant power plants include:
- Grand Coulee Dam – Washington: One of the largest hydroelectric generating facilities in the United States.
- Vogtle Electric Generating Plant – Georgia: The largest nuclear power plant in the United States by generating capacity.
- Palo Verde Generating Station – Arizona: One of the country’s largest nuclear generating stations.
- Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant – Alabama: A major Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear generating facility.
- West County Energy Center – Florida: One of the country’s largest natural-gas-powered generating facilities.
- W.A. Parish Generating Station – Texas: A major generating facility historically utilizing both coal and natural gas.
- South Texas Project – Texas: A major two-reactor nuclear generating station.
- Oconee Nuclear Station – South Carolina: One of the country’s major nuclear generating facilities.
- Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station – Pennsylvania: A large nuclear generating station serving the Mid-Atlantic region.
- Susquehanna Steam Electric Station – Pennsylvania: A major nuclear power facility.
- Bath County Pumped Storage Station – Virginia: One of the country’s largest pumped-storage hydroelectric facilities.
- Bankhead Dam and Other TVA Hydroelectric Facilities: Part of the extensive hydroelectric infrastructure supporting power generation throughout the Southeast.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, nuclear, natural gas, coal, and hydroelectric facilities continue to represent a substantial portion of America’s utility-scale generating infrastructure.
While these facilities vary dramatically in design, they share one reality: large mechanical and electrical equipment eventually needs to be installed, maintained, replaced, or removed.
Not Every Power Plant Needs the Same Gantry Crane
A hydroelectric facility may need lifting equipment on a narrow catwalk.
A nuclear station may require a crane to operate around radiation shielding and electrical cabinets.
A natural gas facility may need to remove pumps, motors, valves, or turbine-related equipment.
A facility being decommissioned may need a crane that can be continually relocated as equipment and structures are dismantled.
There is no single gantry configuration that solves every one of these challenges.
EC&MW manufactures a variety of aluminum gantry cranes, including A-Frame, T-Frame, All-Terrain, pneumatic-tire, removable-leg, doorway, and custom configurations.
When a standard model does not meet the requirements, EC&MW can work directly with engineers, maintenance teams, contractors, utilities, and plant operators to develop a crane around the actual lifting environment.
Power Plant Lifting Requires More Than Capacity
The first question when selecting a gantry crane is often, “How much does the equipment weigh?”
But inside a power plant, that is only the beginning.
You also need to consider:
- Available Height Under Beam
- Required span
- Floor loading
- Uneven surfaces and floor drains
- Door and elevator dimensions
- Electrical panels and piping
- Required caster configuration
- Whether the crane must move while loaded
- Assembly and disassembly requirements
- Documentation requirements
- Load testing requirements
These details can determine whether an off-the-shelf crane will work or whether the application requires a custom lifting solution.
Custom Aluminum Gantry Cranes for the Energy Industry
From installing equipment at a hydroelectric plant to maintaining pumps inside an operating nuclear facility or removing shielding during decommissioning, power-generation projects frequently require lifting equipment capable of working in places where conventional cranes cannot.
That is where portable aluminum gantry cranes excel.
Their combination of strength, relatively low weight, portability, configurability, and custom engineering makes them well suited for challenging industrial environments.
EC&MW manufactures its gantry cranes in Elko, Nevada and has produced custom lifting systems for nuclear facilities, hydroelectric projects, energy companies, industrial plants, utilities, and other specialized applications.
If your power plant, utility, engineering firm, or decommissioning contractor has a lifting challenge that does not fit a standard crane, view our custom gantry projects or contact EC&MW to discuss the lifting capacity, available space, height, span, mobility, documentation, and site conditions required for your project.
