Generac is introducing five new generator models intended to serve the largest data centers in the world and plans to make them at its plant in Oshkosh.
Some work previously done at the Oshkosh facility is moving to the company’s new plant in Beaver Dam. That’s allowed Generac to change the factory layout in Oshkosh, add new cranes and new testing facilities, said
Ricardo Navarro, senior vice president and general manager, global telecom and data centers at Generac.
The new models range from 2.25 to 3.25 megawatts, up from the company’s current maximum size of 2 MW. They include Baudouin M55 engines, Deep Sea G8601 controllers, Marathon DataMax alternators, redundant starting systems and a design to meet the most state emission requirements.
“With that, we are entering the big leagues, we are entering the hyperscalers,” Navarro said.
The Town of Genesee-based company has previously served data center customers, although they were generally smaller edge or enterprise facilities, not the ones that require hundreds of megawatts of power like Microsoft’s project in Mount Pleasant.
Serving data centers that are similar in scale to the Microsoft project requires not only building the generator unit but also doing it at scale, ensuring quality and providing service after installation.
“The biggest difference obviously is when you are delivering 100 or 120 generators of this size, then it’s about ability to produce, it’s about to make sure that there are no quality issues on site, that you have the right responses when there are issues,” Navarro said. “These are machine and there will always be issues. You need to be able to respond and respond on time and support the customers.”
“It’s more about the 360-degree support that makes it different from this one-time sale that you might have with a bank, you might have with a grocery store,” he added.
Part of Generac’s pitch to the market with its new offering is also the promise of balancing costs with reduced lead times. Navarro said in some cases it can take two-and-a-half to three years to get generators for data centers. Generac plans to provide units that can be manufactured and deployed in about 50 to 60 weeks.
“The market today is constrained by the ability of the current OEMs to supply generators and Generac, which is one of the largest generator players that is the last one entering these hyperscale markets, is coming with a value proposition that makes a difference,” Navarro said.
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