Video: Installing a 2-Megawatt Generator

SoftLayer Technologies recently expanded the power capacity of its DAL05 data center by installing a new Cummins 2-megawatt diesel backup generator. This 4-minute video reveals the process involved in lifting this enormous engine and installing it on a cement pad alongside the data center. “You see the crane prepare for the work by installing counter-balance weights, and work starts with the team placing a utility transformer on its pad outside our generator yard,” writes Robert Adkins, SoftLayer’s VP of Facilities, in a blog post. “A truck pulls up with the generator base in tow, and you watch the base get positioned and lowered into place. The base looks so large because it also serves as the generator’s 4,000 gallon “belly” fuel tank. After the base is installed, the generator is trucked in, and it is delicately picked up, moved, lined up and lowered onto its base. The last step you see is the generator housing being installed over the generator to protect it from the elements.”

For a look at what goes on inside DAL05, see this video tour: Inside A SoftLayer Data Center. For more news about SoftLayer, see our SoftLayer Channel. For additional video, check out our DCK video archive and the Data Center Videos channel on YouTube.