16 INTERVIEW


Generator Sets: Evolving for a New Generation


P


aul Creighton is the newly-appointed Managing Director of FG Wilson. With


around 30 years of commercial and product background in the industry, he knows and understands the industry very well. “The market for generator sets


is a crowded and unforgiving place,” he explains. As a way of providing


guaranteed electric power, generator sets have been around for a long time and the simple economics of securing the power supply mean that they are a strong consideration for many people. FG Wilson have been around


for more than 50 years, installing more than 625,000 generator sets since 1990 (as far back as their computer records can search). Paul can see why they are a popular choice: “When it comes to guarantee- ing standby or emergency electrical power, in terms of cost, flexibility & responsive- ness, for many people, the best option is a generator set.” Diesel engines are the most


common prime mover for generator sets and the reasons have always been practical: compared with other engines, they are more economical to run, typically easier to service and maintain, fuel is safer to store and transport than petrol or gas fuel and engines are durable. Because the engines operate at relatively low RPM in power generation applications, they can expect a long working life, if looked after and in countries where usage is high, examples of generator sets with 30,000 operating hours are not uncommon.


Middle East Power September 2018 www.gmp.uk.com


While energy storage is starting to become an option for some users, these are usually domestic or other light users of electricity, who may have enough electrical energy stored to see through short outages, explains Paul Creighton, the newly- appointed Managing Director of FG Wilson. Where you have a facility which requires substantial electric


power, like a data centre or hospital, current renewable and energy storage technology is not sufficiently well-developed to be a commercially viable option for standby power. For guaranteed continuity of power, you still need a generator set, he says.


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