Generator transport to the site

What a data center generator looks like on a trailer

A data center does not run on one generator. A campus can have dozens, each rated at two to three megawatts, each in a steel enclosure that is roughly the size of a 40 foot shipping container and weighs 40,000 to 70,000 pounds with its engine, alternator, radiator and sub base fuel tank. Some sites add on site generation to get around utility connection queues, which means even more units, sooner.

An enclosed generator set is tall as well as heavy. On a standard flatbed most enclosures would be over height, so they ride on a step deck, and the largest go on an RGN lowboy so the deck sits low enough to keep the load under fourteen feet. Weight is the other limit: a 60,000 pound enclosure plus the trailer pushes the combination past the legal gross weight, so it moves under an overweight permit on a trailer with enough axles to spread the load.

Loading, securement and the things that get damaged

Generator sets are lifted at their designated points, by crane at the factory and at the site, or by forklift at the pockets on smaller units. They are chained to the trailer at the base, never at the enclosure panels or the exhaust, and the radiator end is protected from road debris because a damaged radiator core is the most common claim on a generator move. Doors are latched and locked, loose parts such as exhaust sections and batteries travel crated, and the fuel tank is empty or at the minimal level the manufacturer specifies.

Units that ship with a drip tray or a double wall tank sit on their own skid, and the skid is what gets chained. If the manufacturer supplies a shipping frame, we use it; if not, we confirm the lifting and tie down points from the drawing before the truck is dispatched.

Permits and the route

Most enclosed gensets are over height on anything but a lowboy and over weight on anything, so a permit from each state the load crosses is normal, with escorts when the enclosure is also over width. The route is checked for low structures and weight restricted bridges, and the Los Angeles basin's travel time rules push a permitted load into the night. From Southern California the roads are Interstate 10 to Phoenix, Interstate 15 to Las Vegas, southern Utah and Salt Lake City, Interstate 5 to the Bay Area, Sacramento and Portland, and Interstate 80 to the Reno area. Winter adds chain season on the northern passes, which we plan around with a day of slack rather than a fixed delivery time.

Delivery at the site

A generator yard on a data center campus is usually a row of concrete pads along the building, reached through a construction gate on a road that was not built for a lowboy. We confirm the turning room, the ground conditions and the crane position before dispatch, so the trailer can get to the pad and the crane can lift the set straight off. If the pad is not ready, the unit can be set in a laydown yard on cribbing, which is better than waiting on the trailer with the clock running.

Fuel tanks, exhaust silencers, load banks and switchgear for the generator paralleling system usually ship separately, on flatbeds or in vans, and we run them as part of the same sequence so the mechanical crew has everything together.

What we need to quote

• Enclosure length, width and height, and the shipping weight with the fuel tank
• Lifting points: crane lugs or forklift pockets, from the manufacturer's drawing
• Pickup at the factory, port or dealer yard, with its crane and hours
• Site gate, road, pad location, crane arrangements and the hours the site receives
• Whether the fuel tank, exhaust, batteries and load bank ship with the set or separately