ALL Crane photo

The crane was set up along the riverbank with the boom swinging out over the water to swap out the gates.

Rochester Gas and Electric (REG)'s Station 5 is in the midst of a rebuild.

The substation, positioned along the lower falls of the Genesee River, includes a dam for the generation of hydroelectric power. When the time came to remove the old head gates and replace them with new spillway gates, ALL Crane Rental of Pennsylvania, a member of the ALL Family of Companies, was called upon to provide heavy lift equipment.

Head gates are a crucial part of dam construction, as they control water flow and are the most identifiable parts of a dam apparatus. Each gate measured approximately 10 ft. by 11 ft. and weighed in at 10,500 lbs. The biggest challenge associated with the undertaking was the staggering 320-ft. lift radius.

To hoist and set the gates, ALL specified a Manitowoc MLC300 lattice boom crawler crane.

"We specified the MLC300 for this job because of its impressive capacities at a far reach using luffing jib and Manitowoc's VPC," said Mark Damich Jr., sales specialist with ALL Crane Rental of Pennsylvania. The Variable Position counterweight automatically positions the crane's counterweight to maximize lift capacity.

The crane was configured with 98 ft. of main boom, 295 ft. of luffing jib and 474,000 lbs. of counterweight along with a headache ball to provide ballast to the line. The huge amount of counterweight was necessary because of the extra-long 320-ft. distance the crane had to reach while hoisting its load.

The crane was set up along the riverbank with the boom swinging out over the water to swap out the gates. Setting up a crane along a riverbank often creates special challenges, and dam environments are also notably limited on space. This project combined both.

Damich credits ALL's customer (and the job's general contractor), C.P. Ward, with designing a crane pad that took into account the crane's total footprint and tail swing, making it perfectly suited for the site.

There were other space considerations to overcome. "The assembly and disassembly processes were a very tight fit," said Damich. "It takes a lot of real estate to build this much boom and luffer."

To address this, Damich created multiple 3-D lift plans that included a bird's-eye view of the various options for staging areas. "This gave all of us a reference point to discuss before we mobilized," said Damich. "We had a game plan together, so our team and the C.P. Ward team both understood what it would take to make this unique job happen."

The crane was on site for approximately one month. A total of 16 head gates were placed during that time.

The dam project is part of a larger upgrade to RGE's Station 5, which is unique in that it is both an electric substation as well as a hydroelectric generating facility that creates clean, renewable energy. This new substation is expected to improve the overall resiliency of the electrical grid.

This story also appears on Crane Equipment Guide.

Today's top stories

Construction Begins on Manhattan's $10B Midtown Bus Terminal Transformation

NDDOT, Partners Officially Kick Off Construction Season

MHTC Selects Radmacher-Ideker JV for MoDOT's Third Improve I-70 Project

Baltimore's Morgan State University Begins Construction on New $337M Science Center

Premier Installs Door System at Farm-Rite Equipment

Chairman Walberg Visits AED Member Buck & Knobby Equipment Company

Several Large Potain Topless Cranes Selected for Singapore HDB Housing Project

Terex Utilities Announces Expansion of Install Capacity