GENSETS
Keeping Your Business Online All The Time
“The costs of losing electric power are almost unthinkable for many businesses now,” says Ann Brown, Managing Director of FG Wilson. FG Wilson has been around long enough, more than 50 years, to see a transformation in how customers use electric power today. UKPN takes up the story.
A
nn Brown, Managing Director of FG Wilson explains: “There’s always been a need for reliable power for critical applications but now there’s
an even greater edge to it and much of this is driven by increasing reliance on digital technology. “Fifteen or twenty years ago, businesses
which lost electric power probably had a back-up plan to work with pen and paper. But today, when power is lost, everything else stops with it.
Particularly for businesses
which operate data centres either for themselves or for others, the costs of going offline due to power outages are colossal.” That means that for many businesses, the
tried and tested generator set has a place. Ann reports: “There are many ways to store or produce energy but when it comes to guaranteeing standby or emergency electrical power, in terms of cost, flexibility
and responsiveness, there’s really no better option than a generator set.” Now among a handful of global generator
set brands, just over 50 years ago, FG Wilson was a small engineering company in Northern Ireland, owned and managed by its founder Fred Wilson. Then came the energy crisis of the early
1970s. Turbulence in the Middle East led to restrictions in the supply of oil and higher prices which created huge transport and power infrastructure problems in many Western economies. With electricity rationed in the UK, Fred
saw an opportunity. He chartered planes and flew in electricity generator sets from the US, auctioning them from a warehouse near Heathrow Airport. A booming global export business followed and FG Wilson quickly found itself on a steep growth curve as Fred began manufacturing generators himself.
“There are many ways to store or produce energy but
when it comes to
guaranteeing standby or emergency electrical power, in
terms of cost, flexibil ity and response
time, there’s really no
better option than a
generator set.”
Ann Brown, MD of
FG Wilson Today, FG Wilson manufactures generator
sets powered by diesel or gas engines with power ratings from 6.8 – 2,500 kVA for small to very large businesses. Some customers can walk into a dealership and drive away with a ready-to- run generator set, while for others it’s a major project. That means working with consultants on
load requirements, finding the right generator set, designing the complete layout of the generator set including exhaust and fuel systems, installation and commissioning. Ann sees this as a key strength of FG
Wilson: “With larger projects, it’s about managing complexity and risk, so for a cus- tomer the choice of supplier is important. It’s about trust and we achieve that through the stringent testing and validation of our products, the competency of our engineering teams at our factory and dealers, and with
20 MARCH ‐ APRIL 2018 UK POWER NEWS
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