How are the load banks used in Engine Generator Tier IV applications?

Emissions are becoming a bigger and bigger part of our business. It’s a federal standard to meet certain emissions requirements. All US States have the ability to either accept the federal emissions standards or to have more stringent emission standards like in California and New York.

When looking at Tier IV applications on diesel engines, we see the use of an SCR and a diesel particulate filter. These are set up to operate optimally when the engine is at a certain temperature. At a minimum, the load on the generator needs to be
at least 30% in order for the Tier IV emissions to work correctly. Failure to do so may damage the filter or the SCR. Today we’re seeing more and more OEMs and large customers that are doing a lot of work on the East Coast and West Coast, with a lot of the equipment going to the data centers.

We’re seeing a lot of Tier IV requirements where they use large, permanent installation load banks, which have the ability to switch multiple generators on and off the load bank, and also a lot of the OEMs are electing to go with a rail-mounted load bank to pick up 30 to 50% of the load, just to ensure the engine is at a certain temperature.