The Hinkley Point C nuclear power station is the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken in the UK. When completed, it will provide about 7% of the UK’s green electricity supply and create about 25,000 jobs during the construction process.
SGC-250 ring rail crane will be the main lifting equipment at Hinkley Point C for four years and is expected to perform more than 700 lifts, assisted by 52 tower cranes.
Developed and designed by Sarens which is Belgian hoisting giant, the SGC-250 ring rail crane has a maximum lifting moment of 250,000 tons per meter, a maximum lifting capacity of 5,000 tons and a maximum lifting capacity of 2,000 tons within a 100-meter radius. SGC-250 is also affectionately known as Big Carl, after Carl Sarens, the leader of Sarens.
It is reported that SGC-250 rail crane was manufactured in Belgium and tested before being dismantled for transportation; All the parts used to assemble the rail crane were transported by 280 lorries to Somerset, England later.
SGC-250 rail crane was assembled in August 2019 using five auxiliary cranes (including two CC2800 crawler cranes, one 220t, one 130-t and one 100-t mobile crane) after 10 weeks, overcoming the adverse factors such as strong winds and the small space of the construction site. The first lifting was realized in mid-September.
