20
POWER
IRN JANUARY 2014
Wacker Neuson’s 6.3 kW GV 5003
(pictured) and 8.3 kW GV 7003
three-phase current generators are
equipped with three plug receptacles
as standard, giving users flexibility
in using different tools.
Morillo reinvests in power rental fleet
Well known Spanish rental company Morillo is preparing to renew its power rental fleet having invested
little since the downturn began in 2008.
Luis Morillo, technical director and a co-owner of the family company, told
IRN
that a lot had changed
at the company since the boom years, with the focus now firmly on renting power and climate control,
with much of the general construction equipment and compressor fleet sold off. Around 50-60% of its
work is now in the events sector.
Speaking to
IRN
at a Cummins Power Generation customer day in December - at which Mr Morillo took
a close look at the supplier’s new 100 kVA set -
he said the aim was to completely renew the 450
unit genset fleet by 2020, with investment likely
to start in 2015.
Morillo is a Cummins genset dealer in Catalonia
and has >500 kVA Cummins sets in its fleet. In
smaller sizes it has historically used FG Wilson,
SDMO and Himoinsa, although that may change
with Cummins launching its new rental sets.
“Now Spain is stabilised; it’s OK”, says Mr
Morillo, “We have enough fleet to maintain our
business at a level. We are the right size. If the
market grows we can grow with it.” The company,
which is based in Barcelona, employs 44 staff at
six locations, down from 95 at the peak.
2011 and says these claims are steadily reducing in
frequency and are now at an annual rate of below
0.4%, which compares to 0.9% in late 2010.
If the focus in recent years has been on its
sub-550 kVA rental range, the company has also
been finding success with last year’s launch of the
containerised 1650 kVA unit, ten of which have been
sold to Mexican rental company Gracida, based in
Guadalajara.
The acquisition by Kohler in 2005 has seemed to
work well for SDMO. Around €14 million has been
invested in production facilities in the Brest area in the
past five or so years – including a more than doubling
in size to 40000 m2 of the
massive Kergaradec II plant,
where much of the assembly
work is undertaken. The
three facilities in Brest
can produce up to 60000
gensets each year, although
that includes the small,
sub-15 kVA portable power
products made in Brest.
SDMO/Kohler also acquired a
Brazilian manufacturer, Maquigeral, in
late 2011, which produces sets in the 40 to 750 kVA
range under the SDMO Maquigeral brand. These are
60 Hz units, which doesn’t make them well suited for
the 50 Hz South American market.
Cummins Power Generation will admit to playing
catch-up in Europe, which is why it has just further
extended its new range of gensets targeted at the
European rental market with the launch of a 100 kVA
unit. This follows the introduction in early 2013 of four
sets in the 150-300 kVA range.
The 100 kVA is the first of
a line of smaller sets that are
being built for Cummins by a sub-
supplier in Europe, with 20, 40 and 60 kVA units
the next to be launched. The sub-contractor has not
been named, although
IRN
understands it is possibly
an Italian producer.
Scott Strudwick, business director, global rental at
Cummins Power Generation, describes the 100 kVA
unit as a “major step forward…You can’t just have one
or two products, you need the whole range…we are
working diligently to fill out that range.”
Cummins hopes eventually to have a “seamless”
line of rental sets in the 20 kVA to 1.5 MW sizes.
The 100 kVA unit was introduced to European
distributors and customers at a series of meetings
at Cummins’ manufacturing facility near Ramsgate in
the UK in early December.
Features of the 100 kVA Stage IIIa unit include
“robust construction and heavy-duty components”,
two fuel tank sizes (200 l and 400 l), noise levels of
66.7 dB(A) at 7 m, three control options available
(Cummins PowerCommand Control, DeepSea 7310,
and ComAp MRS16) and the use of a maintenance-free
Optima AGM battery. The DeepSea controller is only
available with the 100 kVA unit for the time being.
During the showcase events, Cummins
demonstrated the genset’s capacity to accept a 100%
load in a single step. “It’s a pretty nasty thing to do to
a generator”, says Mr Strudwick, “but it will do it if it
is required.”
The extension of the rental range continues
Cummin’s aim to expand its rental market sales.
Currently around US$150 million of Cummins Power
generation sales are generated by sales to rental
companies worldwide, with Europe being the smallest
region. Cummins is performing much better in North
American and Middle East rental markets.
Mr Strudwick says the new European gensets are
helping but that the subdued economy and tough
competition are making things difficult; “When the
market does turn up we will have the products ready.”
Of course, there are alternative engine technologies
coming into view. Mr Strudwick says Cummins sees
the attraction of hybrid gensets, incorporating
battery packs, but that the first priority is the
Cummins' new 100 kVA genset for European markets.
Further 20, 40 and 60 kVA units will follow this year.
Luis Morillo,
co-director of
rental company
Morillo.
Hong Kong rental company Dynamic City Equipment is renting 10
JCB generators, all larger than 200 kVA, for work on the YOHO
Town phousing and shopping centre project inn Yuen Long, New
Territories, Hong Kong, developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties.
¬
Bredenoord reports providing around 22 MW of power to help
Siemens test four massive compressors at its site in Hengelo,
the Netherlands. The compressors will be used off the coast of
Norway to extract oil.
