HYUNDAI machines are proving their worth at the landmark Hinkley Point C project, the UK’s first new nuclear power station in a generation.
Once complete, the station will provide electricity for some six million homes. Somerset-based Plantforce Rentals owns a fleet of almost 100 Hyundai machines, ranging from six to 52-tonnes. The firm is currently carrying out the majority of the earthworks on the Hinkley Point C site.
Plantforce marketing manager Dale Hawkins said, “Forming part of our fleet on the Hinkley site are 15 Hyundais – we have a range of wheeled machines including ‘ducks’ and loading shovels, in addition to tracked excavators ranging from 14 to 52-tonnes.”
One of the larger items is a Hyundai HX520LC fitted with a Geith fixed-leg rock grab. With the earthworks almost at an end, one of the tasks was completing a section of rock armour installation.
Dale added, “The rock armour defence has been installed while the primary 13.5m sea wall, built to protect the operational station, is under construction. The 52-tonne HX520LC is able to handle the granite boulders effortlessly. One of the main reasons we invested in the HX520 was for its immense power.”
Plantforce also supplied a number of Hyundai wheeled excavators into the project, the latest being an HW160 complete with tipping trailer, FHOSS Halo lighting system, night branding, an Engcon tiltrotator, Prolec height and slew restriction and SiteZone proximity device.
“We are always looking for cost-effective solutions for different markets,” Dale added. “We have specified this particular machine to show the Hinkley Point C contractors what we are capable of and what we can do to make operating an excavator even safer. They have been particularly impressed with the result and this has spurred us on as a company to look for other ways of adding additional value to a piece of equipment.”
