Generac helps keep the lights on
Backup power generation systems are everywhere, but very few people ever think about them. Hospitals, data centers, grocery and retail stores, government buildings and many other large commercial and institutional centers rely on generators to provide electricity when and if the electrical grid is disrupted.
Since 1959, Waukesha-based Generac Power Systems Inc. has been making backup power generators. Today, it produces generators for the residential and commercial markets. Its smallest generators are mounted on wheels and are usually stored in customers’ garages. Its largest commercial units are capable of generating up to nine megawatts and can power hospitals, data centers or water purification plants.
Generac makes commercial generators that run on diesel fuel or natural gas. The company is the largest seller of natural gas powered generators in North America, and many of those generators are purchased by telecommunications companies to provide backup power for cellular towers.
“There are 220,000 wireless towers in the United States, and that number is growing every day,” said Aaron Jagdfleld, president and chief executive officer of Generac. “All of the wireless carriers use (generators). In the last six months we’ve seen that market recover nicely and we’re bullish on its 2011 trajectory.”
Read more about Generac in the Made in Milwaukee profile in the latest issue of BizTimes Milwaukee.
