Battery-powered Liebherr LR 1130.1 drives sheet piling at Dutch lock

The lock complex regulates the flow of water between the North Sea and the Grevelingenmeer, and its half-century-old sheet piling has reached the end of its life. De Klerk Werkendam is installing 162 new sheet piles, each 23 metres long, before pulling the old elements to clear the way for a modern lock system.

Vibrating piles into compacted sand

The heavily compacted sandy soil of the embankment is the hard part of the job. Driving the piles calls for a powerful sheet pile vibrator and a crane that can take the sustained duty. The LR 1130.1 unplugged works from a barge, where its long working radius lets it position the piles precisely in the wall line while also picking up building materials delivered to the shore.

The crawler crane is the battery-electric version of Liebherr’s 130-tonne class machine. Its battery is charged from an ordinary jobsite electricity supply, and the crane can keep working while connected; pull the plug and it carries on under battery power, which is where the “unplugged” name comes from. According to Liebherr, performance and the range of applications are identical to those of the conventional diesel version, whether the crane is cabled up or not.

Quiet enough for a conversation

The contractor chose the electric crane deliberately to meet the growing demand for emission-free jobsites in the Netherlands, and reports that the decision is paying off. Project managers and operators single out the low noise and the absence of local emissions: in idling mode, the sound pressure of three unplugged crawler cranes measured at 16 metres equals that of a normal conversation heard from 1 metre. Site staff have come to prefer the electric machines outright.

The package goes beyond the crane. The work pontoon has an electric drive, electric spud piles and a hybrid system of battery storage and solar panels. With shore power available, the whole spread runs almost entirely emission-free on site – only the hydraulic power pack of the sheet pile vibrator still burns diesel. De Klerk Werkendam believes the combination of electric pontoon and battery crawler crane is unique in the Netherlands and intends to keep deploying it.

The company also credits the machine’s reliability, fast parts supply and prompt technical support on site, and says the experience has convinced it to add further electric cranes to its fleet.