Spanish wind technology company Nabrawind has successfully validated its Skylift crane-free installation system at the InnoVent Diaz wind farm in Namibia, completing the installation of a Goldwind GW165/6000 direct-drive turbine, one of the most technically demanding scenarios for the system. The milestone confirms Skylift’s viability for large-scale wind turbine deployment in remote, high-wind locations where conventional heavy-lift cranes are impractical or unavailable.
The Skylift system combines two proprietary Nabrawind technologies, the Self-Erecting System and BladeRunner, to install tower sections, nacelle, and blades without large-tonnage cranes. Critically, the system operates reliably at sustained wind speeds of 15 m/s and gusts reaching 20 m/s, far exceeding the 6–8 m/s operational ceiling of conventional crane-based installations for blade-mounting work.
The Diaz farm, located in one of the world’s most wind-intensive regions, provided an ideal proving ground. The successful validation addresses one of the most persistent logistical and cost constraints in wind farm development, crane dependency, opening new possibilities for utility-scale projects in challenging terrain across emerging wind markets globally.
