Two weeks ago I, Brian, took a trip to Mankato, MN for a training class with work at MTU Onsite Energy. MTU Onsite Energy is a part of MTU and here they manufacture Gensets. Everything from small ones you all have seen at the store to big ones pictured here.

Pictures of the building. The sign is new from the last time I was here early in Sept. About a year ago MTU bought Katolight and now they have changed their name.

16V4000 genset. I don't know for sure but I think it has an electrical output of 2000Kw
To give you an idea of how big this is - the ladder (orange) is an 8' ladder folded up so it is probably closer to 9' tall the way it is right now.

This is a S60 (same kind of engine found in freightliner trucks) genset in a sound attenuation (fancy way of saying making it quiet) enclosure. This has an electrical output ranging from 300Kw to 700Kw

This is another 18V4000 genset only this one has a remote radiator setup (no big black thing in front of it). This engine is also getting ready to be tested before going to the customer.

Yes, we test all of our gensets before they leave our facility. In fact, we even test the engine before it leaves our plant in either Detroit, MI or Germany, so the engine gets tested twice before it gets to the customer. This way we know that everything is working properly and can ensure the customer that this genset will work 100% if installed correctly and there will not be problems. The engine runs for a couple of hours at full load to be sure that nothing is going to over heat or come apart.

For those of you who have no idea how much power these engines put out because you do not have anything to reference it to; an average house would require 5-8Kw genset to run a house if the power went out. Some houses can get away with as little as 3Kw genset others need much more (ex. Al Gore's home would requre 15-30Kw genset)

Wednesday after my training was done, I met Wade and Rebecca Kreun in Owatonna, MN. It was about an hour drive for both of us for the Kreuns live in Rochester, MN. We ate dinner at Timber Lodge Steak House which is located right next to a Cabela's were we decided to meet. It was great to see them and catch up on things as well. I hope to be able to visit them again on future trips and maybe sometime I will be able to take Beth with me too.

Beth just read this to see if it all made sense. She learned some things by reading this...did you??