Sectors
Renewable Energy Lifting Equipment & Crane Systems
Engineered cranes, bespoke lifting beams and statutory thorough examination for wind, solar, battery storage and energy-from-waste sites across the UK and Ireland.
Lifting and Inspection Across the Renewable Energy Sector
Renewable generation leaves little margin for lifting problems. Maintenance windows are short, sites are dispersed and often remote, and the components — blades, nacelles, main bearings, transformers, containerised battery units — are long, heavy and expensive to replace. Inspection, repair, load testing and re-certification need to happen inside one visit.
WH Scott Group supports onshore and offshore wind, solar, battery energy storage (BESS), energy-from-waste, biomass and hydro, plus the factories where towers, blades and cable systems are built. The duty is the same across all of them: prove that each lifting asset is suitable for its task, properly maintained and examined by a competent person.
We have engineered and examined lifting equipment since 1897 and complete over 400,000 statutory examinations a year from 14 depots across the UK and Ireland — so a defect found at thorough examination can be quoted, repaired and re-certified in-house.
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Why Renewable Energy Lifting Is Different
- Long, unbalanced, high-value loads. Blades, tower sections and nacelles need lifting beams and spreader frames engineered around a calculated centre of gravity. A composite blade damaged in a lift is a replacement, not a repair.
- Work at height, in confined access. Tower maintenance depends on service lifts, tower hoists, davit cranes and fall-arrest systems. Anything used to lift or carry people falls under a stricter examination regime than general lifting gear — a distinction frequently missed.
- Exposure and corrosion. Salt spray and constant humidity attack ropes, sheaves and structural welds. Inspection regimes written for a dry inland workshop will not catch deterioration early enough.
- Dispersed assets and fragmented certification. Hundreds of items across dozens of sites, certified through different systems, is how examinations get missed — and a missed examination takes the asset out of service.
What WH Scott Group Provides
- Engineered cranes and handling systems. Overhead travelling and gantry cranes, process cranes, jib systems and hoists for turbine and blade manufacturing and O&M workshops — designed and fabricated to BS EN 1090 in our own certified workshop, UKCA or CE marked as required.
- Bespoke lifting beams and frames. Lifting beams, spreader beams and lifting frames for balanced multi-point handling of blades, tower sections and nacelle components — proof load tested and certified before first use.
- Statutory inspection and certification. LOLER thorough examination, PUWER inspection, proof load testing and written schemes of examination by LEEA-qualified competent persons, reported digitally so a whole portfolio is evidenced in one place.
- Maintenance, overhaul and modernisation. Planned preventative maintenance, breakdown cover, plus crane and hoist modernisation to extend the life of existing assets — whoever built them.
- Ropes and materials testing. Re-Ropes supplies and fits ropes, belts and sheaves for lift and service-lift systems, independently of the lift manufacturers. Metlab provides INAB-accredited non-destructive testing — ultrasonic, magnetic particle, dye penetrant, eddy current, phased array and TOFD — plus weld and welder certification.
- Height safety. Inspection, certification and supply of fall-arrest and personal fall protection equipment used throughout tower and roof-level maintenance.
Get in Touch
Tell Us About Your Project
Whether you need a single piece of equipment or a fully engineered lifting system, our specialists can help. Tell us your load, environment and compliance requirements — we’ll do the rest.
Lifting Equipment Compliance in the UK and Ireland
In Great Britain, lifting on renewable energy sites is governed by LOLER 1998 and PUWER 1998. Thorough examination is required at least every six months for lifting accessories and anything used to lift or carry people — turbine service lifts, tower hoists and man-riding davit cranes included — and at least every twelve months for other lifting equipment. For offshore or hard-to-access assets, a written scheme of examination under Regulation 9(3)(a)(iii) is often more practical, and we can draw it up and administer it.
Ireland is not covered by LOLER. The equivalent duties sit in the General Application Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 299 of 2007): Regulation 52 and Schedule 1 set the periodic examination intervals, and Regulation 53 requires the report to go to the Health and Safety Authority within 20 days where a competent person advises that work must stop. Our lifting equipment inspections in Ireland report to S.I. 299, not adapted UK paperwork.
BS 7121 for the safe use of cranes and BS EN 1090 apply in both jurisdictions, with explosion-protected (ATEX) lifting equipment specified on biogas, anaerobic digestion and energy-from-waste sites.
What We Deliver for Renewable Energy Sites
Overhead Gantry Cranes
Overhead and gantry crane systems for turbine, blade and tower manufacturing, O&M workshops and substation buildings — designed, fabricated, installed, maintained and certified in-house.
Process Cranes
Custom process crane systems for continuous-duty and automated handling in energy-from-waste, biomass and renewable production facilities, engineered around the duty cycle and the building.
Lifting Beams & Lifting Frames
Bespoke lifting beams, spreader beams and frames for balanced multi-point handling of turbine blades, tower sections and other long, unbalanced loads — proof load tested and certified.
Get in Touch
Tell Us About Your Project
Whether you need a single piece of equipment or a fully engineered lifting system, our specialists can help. Tell us your load, environment and compliance requirements — we’ll do the rest.