Perfect Debut!JINLI JLL560 Self-Hoisting Maintenance Crane Completes First Site Test!

——completed full gearbox replacement on a wind turbine marking a breakthrough in China’s high-end, without main crane wind turbine maintenance solutions.

On June 8, 2025, at the Liuyuan Wind Farm in Gansu,China. The JLL560 self-hosting crane—jointly developed by Jinli Heavy Industry and Goldwind—completed its first full-scale test in China. Designed for replacing key wind turbine components like gearboxes and generators, the crane successfully handled the full process of removing, replacing, and reinstalling the gearbox of a Goldwind GWH204-6.7WM turbine without using a main crane.

This test marks a major breakthrough in China’s smart maintenance equipment for large capacity wind turbines. It offers a new solution to cut costs and boost efficiency across the full lifecycle of wind farms.

01 New Challenges Drive Innovation

The industry faces a wave of larger wind turbines. Onshore units over 6MW are now common, while offshore turbines exceed 20MW. Hub heights often surpass 190 meters, and blades stretch beyond 100 meters. This growth brings challenges like high maintenance costs for large parts.

• High Maintenance Costs:Repairing large wind turbine parts requires heavy lifting equipment. Traditional onshore replacements need crawler cranes over 1,000 tons or all-terrain cranes over 2,400 tons. Rental, transport, assembly sites, road access, and temporary land use drive up
• Significant Financial Losses: Wind turbines lose over 100,000 yuan per day when gearboxes or generators fail. Traditional lifting setups take 14-28 days to prepare, plus extra time for heavy equipment transport and road construction. These delays cause costly downtime and lost power generation.
• Limitations in Special Scenes: Large cranes struggle to access small sites like deserts, scattered wind farms, mountainous ponds, and old turbines upgraded with bigger parts.

The JLL560 self-hoisting crane uses an integrated modular design. Onshore turbines need only two trailers and a 100-ton truck crane. Offshore turbines require just a small floating crane. This setup handles equipment transport, self-installation, and part replacement with surgical precision, greatly cutting replacement costs.

The self-hoisting crane uses lightweight, modular transport to avoid long waits for large cranes and jack-up vessels. It cuts downtime from 14-28 days to 5-7 days, shortens the project by over 80%, speeds up site access, and protects owners’ power revenue.

02  Breakthrough Technology​

JLL560 maintenance and replacement system makes key breakthroughs in lightweight design, modularity, and safety. Its core strengths lie in five major innovative features:

• Self-hoisting Technology: This self-hoisting crane features an integrated design combining winch lifting, hydraulic luffing, and upper structure slewing. A ground winch system forms a closed-loop lifting mechanism, enabling the main structure to raise and lower itself. It can complete self-installation and commissioning in complex sea conditions and limited space, reducing reliance on external heavy equipment and improving safety and cost-efficiency. This offers innovative technical support for offshore wind power construction.
• Powerful Performance: The JLL560 self-hoisting crane lifts up to 100 tons and reaches over 190 meters. It can access core wind turbine components directly from the ground or sea. It handles tall tower tops and complex hubs with precision, solving the common issues of limited reach and lifting capacity in traditional equipment.
• Modular Transport: The JLL560 self-lifting smart system uses an integrated modular design, packing complex mechanical and electrical parts into container-like units. It can be easily shipped by road or sea. On-site, the modules assemble quickly, avoiding oversized transport issues, cutting logistics costs, and reducing risks to support efficient project delivery.
• Modular Turbine Installation Interface: The system uses a modular interface design. Adding one set of adapter kits allows it to fit different turbine models, achieving compatibility.
• Multiple Safety Measures: The JLL560 system integrates safety monitoring, video capture, load tracking, self-elevating posture control, and emergency brakes. It monitors the entire replacement process, ensuring strong protection and strict safety control, giving owners and users full confidence.

 

03 Gobi Desert Test

The test site at Liuyuan, Gansu, sits at the western end of the Hexi Corridor. It has an average wind speed of 7.2 m/s and 120 days of sandstorms yearly, making it a natural proving ground for equipment reliability.

On the evening of June 6, as the main arm slowly folded into the container, the JLL560 gearbox maintenance test finished successfully. Jinli Heavy Industry worked closely with Goldwind to complete the entire process—from design and production to factory testing and final field operation. This success gained valuable experience for future offshore repairs and the development of larger models.

04 A New Era

Song Guang, General Manager of Jinli Heavy Industry, said, “This smart system cuts large-part replacement costs by over 50% and reduces downtime by 60%. We are developing the next model series for offshore turbines and aim to launch it soon.”

05 Jinli’s Innovation Legacy

In the booming green energy wave, wind power leads the way, growing taller, larger, and more advanced. Rising towers and massive blades challenge lifting equipment with demands for stronger load capacity, precise control, and tough environment adaptability. Jinli Heavy Industry focuses on high-end wind power lifting equipment. It embeds innovation into its core, using deep expertise and constant R&D to drive ongoing progress and breakthroughs in the field.

 From the first JLD1700 wind power tower crane to the advanced JLD2250 and JLD2250S models, Jinli Heavy Industry’s tower crane series has played a key role in wind power lifting as a main force in the field.

Jinli Heavy Industry is set to launch new flagship model “giant lifter” offers a 220-ton lifting capacity and a 220-meter lifting height. With its height, power, and strong wind resistance, it’s built to handle the next generation of taller, larger turbines and will serve as a key tool in the future of high-tower, high-capacity wind power.

With the JLL560 smart system set for large-scale use, China’s wind power maintenance is entering a new stage of precision, efficiency, and lower cost.