At 179 metres, a wind turbine's hub sits higher than most cranes are built to reach comfortably. Ten Nordex N175/6.X turbines at Mahlsdorf, with 175 m rotor diameters to match, pushed onshore erection close to its practical limit — and did it by coordinating nine cranes across the site at once.

Three 800-tonne Liebherr cranes carried the main erection load. Six more, including auxiliary machines, kept multiple turbines progressing in parallel — a scheduling and logistics problem as much as a lifting one.

179 m
Hub height
3×800 t
Main erection cranes
400 t
Ballast per mast
87.5 m
Blade length
Phase 1 — Ballasting for height, not just weight
400 tonnes of counterweight per mast
Erecting each 179 m mast required approximately 400 tonnes of suspended ballast — counterweight needed to offset the overturning moment created by lifting components to a height most onshore cranes were never designed to reach. As turbine height increases, ballast requirements scale with it, directly driving up the crane footprint and site logistics needed at every position.
Phase 2 — The main crane fleet
Three 800-tonne Liebherr cranes carrying the load
An LG 1800-1.0 and two LR 1800-1.0 Liebherr cranes, each rated at 800 tonnes, handled the primary erection work — tower sections, nacelle, and blades — while six further Liebherr machines, including auxiliary cranes, supported operations elsewhere on site to keep the ten-turbine programme moving in parallel rather than sequentially.
Phase 3 — The heaviest single component
An 83-tonne gearbox, the tallest lift on the project
The gearbox was the heaviest single component on the turbine at 83 tonnes net — a lift that, combined with the nacelle and tower sections above it, had to be sequenced precisely to keep the crane's load chart within safe operating limits at extreme boom height.
Phase 4 — Controlling an 87.5-metre blade in crosswind
A crossbeam and autonomous positioning system
Each 87.5 m, 30-tonne blade presented its own problem: at that length, wind load on the blade itself becomes as significant as the crane's own limits. A stabilising crossbeam from Liftra, paired with an Autonomous Positioning System from Seasight Solutions, held blade position steady enough to complete lifts safely in crosswinds up to 30 km/h — conditions that would otherwise have halted work.

Nine cranes, 400 tonnes of ballast per mast, and a stabilising system built specifically to control an 87.5-metre blade in the wind — erecting the tallest onshore turbines in the world meant treating crane capacity as only one variable among several.

Mahlsdorf stands as a reference case for onshore wind erection at the edge of what conventional crane technology can reach: as hub heights climb past 175 m, ballast, wind exposure on oversized blades, and multi-crane site choreography become as decisive to the programme as the cranes' rated capacity itself.

For further reading on heavy lift engineering, see What is Heavy Lift Engineering?

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Sources: Liebherr — crane manufacturer's project record: three 800-tonne cranes (an LG 1800-1.0 and two LR 1800-1.0), the Nordex N175/6.X turbines at 179 m hub height, roughly 400 tonnes of suspended ballast for mast erection, and the blade-handling arrangement. Figures are reported as published by the manufacturer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ten Nordex N175/6.X turbines at the Mahlsdorf wind farm in Germany have a hub height of 179 m and a rotor diameter of 175 m, placing them among the tallest onshore wind turbines in the world.

An LG 1800-1.0 and two LR 1800-1.0 Liebherr cranes, each rated at 800 tonnes, carried out the main erection work. Across the site, nine Liebherr cranes in total, including auxiliary machines, worked in coordinated operations to keep multiple turbines progressing at once.

Approximately 400 tonnes of suspended ballast were required to erect each 179 m mast — counterweight needed to offset the overturning moment of lifting components to that height, and a direct consequence of how tall these turbines are relative to previous onshore designs.

A stabilising crossbeam from Liftra and an Autonomous Positioning System from Seasight Solutions were used to control blade position during lifting, allowing the 87.5 m, 30-tonne blades to be installed safely in crosswinds up to 30 km/h. The heaviest single component on the turbine was the gearbox, at 83 tonnes net.