An Interview With a Multi-Megawatt Generator Engineer
From generator apprentice to multi-megawatt engineer, in 16 years Danny’s responsibilities have grown almost as much as the generators he services.
Danny is a busy man. As a specialist multi-megawatt engineer, he’s responsible for servicing generators between 800kVA and 2000kVA – that’s the big sets, the monster machines. He’s currently replacing the exhaust gaskets on a 1000kVA generator, but he’s managed to spare an hour for a well-earned cuppa and a chat about his role at Power Electrics.
It’s a varied role. Operating a 24/7 hire service means that generators are constantly being called out and brought back in and Danny could be needed on site for servicing or repairs at any point.
“Often generators go out on emergency jobs” he explains, “I’m an on-call manager every 5th week so I’ll coordinate our out of hours response team. When I’m not on-call, the first thing I do each morning is record the generator plant numbers so I know exactly what I’ve got in the fleet”.
After that he’ll carry out a B service on any generators that have come back off hire. This involves checking the oil, water and fuel levels, as well as visual checks for leaks and loose wires. If everything looks good, he’ll start the generator up and check all the electrical outputs and this then gets recorded and written up on a whiteboard in his office (a refurbished ISO container at the end of the workshop.) Major generator services are carried out every 500 hours and repairs and replacement parts are fitted in-house too.
Never far from his work, Danny’s phone rings a lot. First, it’s one of the hire team asking about multi-megawatt options for a customer. Next, it’s our fabrication department asking if Danny can drain a radiator on a large set, followed by a customer confirming details for a load bank witness test the following day. He’s certainly in demand and it’s not even 11am.
But then Danny’s been working here for nearly 16 years. “When I started [at Power Electrics] as an apprentice, there were about 12 employees and we pretty much did everything” he says, “I’ve worked as a service engineer on both the hire side and customer side, I’ve spent time in the workshop, I’ve even driven the lorries. But as the company grew and the fleet expanded, I specialised as a multi-megawatt engineer. Some people might be intimidated by the big sets, but I like them.”
