Bigge Crane Steps in as Solar Power Heats Up

Date: February 2009

Equipment Owner: Bigge Crane and Rigging
Job Location: Northern California

March 24, 2009 – Based in San Leandro, Calif., Bigge Crane and Rigging Co. is constantly on the move throughout Northern California completing any number of lifting applications. As alternative energy sources become prevalent in the world today, the company and its cranes are called upon to assist with everything from windmill applications to solar panel installation. Capturing solar energy is becoming more attractive to businesses as an unobtrusive and cost-effective method of getting the power needed to run our facilities. Solar panels are being designed into a myriad of structures supplying power to an ever growing number of operations in California and across the country.

Imaged onsite and setting 44,000-pound solar canopy frames at a new business complex in Northern California is one of Bigge's new 75-ton Link-Belt HTC8675 Series II truck cranes. The newly designed 8675II extends its capabilities beyond those of the HTC8675. In addition to significantly increased load capacities, the one-man crane is California legal with 14,400 pounds of counterweight, and its pinning four-section boom extends to 127 feet, 12 feet longer than the HTC8675.

Another recent Bigge job in Sacramento had its Demag AC500 to hoist and set several 12,000-pound chillers and other HVAC equipment on top of a new 600,000-square-foot solar panel manufacturing plant. The 600-ton machine’s long reach came in handy on the job. To complete the lifts, the crane was rigged with 255 feet of luffing jib to hoist the loads at up to a 230-foot radius. The crane has the ability to reach in excess of a 350-foot radius.

Bigge has been involved in numerous projects in California, including hauling steel for the Golden Gate Bridge and assisting the San Francisco Bay Area’s recovery from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake