Built on a jagged rocky ridgeline, Silverton had some of the most challenging site topography we have ever encountered, with road gradients of up to 22 degrees.  On slopes you can barely walk up, our trucks and trailers towed and carried 100 ton nacelles and 30m long tower sections to their final destinations at the top.  

The blades for the project were the longest ever transported in Australia at the time, measuring 64 metres in length. That’s as long as a 16 storey building is tall!  This delicate and fragile cargo had to be carefully navigated out of the city of Adelaide before making the long trip to site, with police escorting them all the way.

All turbine components were taken to site via the Barrier Highway via Burra and Broken Hill. At 524km one way, this was the longest route to site we have ever taken. And with almost 700 deliveries to make, our drivers clocked up an astonishing 730,000km over the course of the whole project!

Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary equipment. And with the Silverton terrain posing an extreme challenge for transport, Ares’ heavy duty Kenworth C500T tow truck was called for. Weighing in at 45 tons, packing 600 horsepower and too large to be allowed on public roads, the truck nicknamed BIGFOOT was in its element towing heavy cargo up the steepest slopes on site.