Last edited 26 Jan 2021

Diesel gensets

Diesel gensets supply electrical power to households and industries during power-cuts and periods of power deficiency to prevent discontinuity in daily activities and business operations.

They work on the principle of conversion of kinetic energy into electrical energy. Diesel gensets are made up of an internal combustion engine (IC engine) which is fuelled by diesel and alternators (electrical generation unit).

Based on power production capacity or power rating, diesel gensets are broadly classified under four categories:

  • Low power rating (below 60 kilowatts)
  • Medium power rating (60 kilowatts - 300 kilowatts)
  • High power rating (300 kilowatts - 1 megawatt)
  • Very high power rating (1 megawatt and above)

The Asia Pacific was the largest market for diesel gensets in 2013, followed by Europe and North America. North American and European markets are heading towards maturity while the emerging markets in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Latin America have high growth rate. Growth rates in rest of the world (Middle East, South America and Africa) are the highest due to increasing power demand owing to infrastructural developments in the countries such as Brazil and South Africa.

Low power rating diesel gensets hold the majority of the market share due to their wide use in domestic, manufacturing, data centre, mining and petrochemical industries. Very high power rating gensets are expected to witness the highest growth across the power rating categories in the coming years due to increasing demand from manufacturing industries. However, increasing government regulations against pollution caused by diesel gensets and the evolution of emission standards are posing a threat to the industry. The trend towards eco-friendly power generators such as solar panels and batteries and rising petroleum prices are also restraining the growth of diesel gensets market.

Gas gensets are one of the emerging substitute for diesel gensets. However, they require related infrastructure for the gas pipelines which are absent in most of the regions in the developing countries.

The power requirement in developing countries is increasing due to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. However, a deficit remains due to the demand and supply gap. Moreover, the ageing power infrastructure and non-reliable grid power supply in the developing countries has been creating a further deficit, which is expected to boost the demand for diesel gensets.

Increasing demand for mobile diesel gensets and bio-fuel based diesel gensets is providing new opportunities for global diesel gensets market.

The major companies operating in the diesel gensets market includes APR Energy Plc., Broadcrown Ltd., Caterpillar Inc., Cummins Inc., Dresser-Rand Group Inc., F.G. Wilson Inc., Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd., MQ Power Corp., MTU Onsite Energy Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Wacker Neuson SE and Wuxi Kipor Power Co. Ltd.


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