FlowMarket
Where to find generators and gensets: FlowMarket is a B2B sourcing network powered by an AI agent. You describe the requirement — the load profile, rating class, fuel, emissions stage, noise limit and installation situation — and the agent matches you with suppliers of generators, transfer equipment and service, then requests quotes, lead times and service coverage so you can compare them in one place.
Sourcing generators and gensets
A generator is bought once and lived with for twenty years, usually by people who were not in the room when it was specified. The sets that cause trouble are rarely the cheap ones; they are the ones sized from a single kilowatt figure without anyone asking what the load actually looks like when it starts.
So the enquiry that produces a usable quote describes the situation rather than the machine: what the set has to carry, whether it is emergency cover or a primary supply, how many hours a year it will run, what the site permits for noise and exhaust, and how the set gets into the building. From that a supplier can size it properly and tell you what the installation will really cost.
Rating class is the specification people get wrong
The same physical set carries three or four different ratings depending on how it is used. Standby rating assumes emergency duty with a variable load and limited annual hours; prime rating assumes it runs as the main supply with a varying load; continuous rating assumes an unvarying load indefinitely. A set sold at its standby figure and then run as prime power will not last.
Say which duty you are buying in the enquiry, and compare quotes at the same rating class. A supplier quoting 500 kVA standby against another quoting 500 kVA prime is offering a materially smaller machine for less money, and the difference only becomes visible when the set is already installed.
Size for the starting load, not the running load
Motors draw several times their running current for the first seconds of a direct-on-line start, and the resulting voltage dip is what trips sensitive equipment. A set sized on total running kilowatts can be perfectly adequate on paper and still fail the moment the largest motor starts.
Give the supplier the biggest single motor, its starting method, and any UPS, variable-speed drives or LED lighting on the load, because non-linear loads change the sizing too. Ask for a sizing calculation showing the expected voltage and frequency dip rather than a rule of thumb; the reputable suppliers run this software as a matter of course.
Fuel, emissions and what the site allows
- Diesel — the default for standby, energy-dense and quick to start, with fuel storage, bunding and fuel ageing to manage.
- Gas — cleaner and attractive where a gas supply exists and running hours are high, with slower start and a different maintenance regime.
- HVO and renewable diesel — a drop-in route to lower emissions on many modern engines, worth confirming against the engine warranty.
- Emissions stage — EU Stage V applies to mobile and many temporary sets, and the compliant engine is not always in stock; check what the site and the permit require.
- Battery hybrid — increasingly paired with a smaller set on sites with short peaks, cutting fuel and run hours substantially.
The parts of the quote that are not the generator
Transfer equipment, cabling, exhaust routing, acoustic treatment, foundations, fuel storage, bunding and commissioning routinely add up to a large fraction of the set's price, and they are where quotes diverge. An automatic transfer switch, its interlocking and the changeover philosophy in particular deserve to be specified rather than assumed.
Ask for the scope boundary in writing: who does the electrical connection, who provides the exhaust and silencing, who handles the acoustic enclosure and the fuel system, who commissions and who trains your staff. Two quotes that differ by thirty percent usually differ by exactly these lines.
A generator that has never been tested is a hope
Standby sets fail when they are needed because they spend their lives idle. Monthly no-load runs are not a test — they confirm the engine starts, not that it can carry the building. Annual load bank testing at a realistic load is what actually proves the set, and it also burns off the wet stacking that light running causes.
So buy the service with the set. Ask about response times, engineer coverage in your region, parts availability for the specific engine and alternator, and whether load bank testing is included or extra. A cheaper set from a supplier with no local service becomes an expensive set the first time it fails at three in the morning.
How the AI agent matches suppliers
The agent reads your requirement rather than your keywords. It searches the FlowMarket network and connected industrial directories together, scores every candidate on how well it answers what you described — power range and rating class, fuel and emissions stage, acoustic performance, transfer and control scope, service coverage and region — and drops anything that does not clear the bar. Each match comes back with a plain-language reason, so a manufacturer, a packager and a hire company never arrive looking the same.