Gas and diesel sets in the range around 100 kW, read live from the rental fleet, with the conversions and motor-starting checks that decide whether you want the one just under or the one just over. Shipped from Red Deer to sites across Alberta.
Generators are sold and rented by kW, but breakers, cable and motor starting are worked out in kVA and amps. At the 0.8 power factor most three-phase sets are rated at, a 100 kW load is 125 kVA, so a 125 kVA generator rental and a 100 kW one are describing the same machine.
A 100 kVA set is a smaller thing: about 80 kW. When a drawing, a tender or an old quote gives a size without saying which unit it is in, settle that first.
The current per phase depends on the voltage. The figures alongside come from the amperage calculation table, and the generator sizing calculators convert kW, kVA, amps and horsepower for any other rating.
| A 100 kW load | Works out to |
|---|---|
| Real power | 100 kW |
| Apparent power at 0.8 pf | 125 kVA |
| Current at 208 V | about 347 A per phase |
| Current at 480 V | about 150 A per phase |
| Current at 600 V | about 120 A per phase |
These cards come straight from the inventory, so they change when the fleet does. Each shows the set's own rating, voltage and fuel, and whether it can also be bought or taken on rent-to-own. Listing a set here is not a promise it is free on your dates — the desk confirms that when it quotes.
For site gas, the natural gas generator rental page covers gas analysis and scrubbers.
Further from 100 kW? The generators by size table lists every set in stock in kW order, and Generator rentals Alberta covers the whole rental fleet.
Engines and alternators come in model steps, so a fleet ends up with sets a little below 100 kW and a little above it. Which side to take depends on what the 100 kW figure really is.
If it is a measured peak that already includes every start, a set just under can work, provided it is not left running flat out for weeks. If it is a running load worked out on paper, plan on the set above it.
Motors are where small sets get caught out. A pump or compressor started straight across the line pulls several times its running current for a moment, and the generator has to hold voltage through it. A soft starter or a drive cuts that surge; staggering the starts helps too.
Going too big has a cost of its own. A diesel that idles along on a light load does not burn clean, which is why a load bank rental sometimes goes out with it. The commercial generator sizing guide walks through a load profile step by step.
A 100 kW natural gas generator rental makes sense where gas is already there: a utility line at a building, or a lease supply the set can burn once an analysis of the gas clears it. No deliveries, no tank to watch. Some of the gas sets will also run on propane where there is no line.
A 100 kW diesel generator rental goes anywhere a truck can reach, with a tank beside it sized to how long it has to run between fills. The fuel consumption calculator gives a burn rate to plan the tank and the refuelling around.
Towed in, levelled on its jacks and towed out again. The easy choice when the set moves between work fronts or the job is counted in weeks.
Leasing a portable generator →Lifted onto a pad beside a building or a lease facility and left there. Less footprint and nothing to keep road-legal, at the price of a planned lift each way.
Skid-mounted generator rental →Open a card to see how that set is built. Where its listing does not say, ask when you quote.
Two sets running in parallel can share a load that either would struggle with alone, and give you one to fall back on while the other is serviced. It only works when both units are built for it, with controls that synchronize and share the load. Of the sets on this page, these are the ones whose own listing says they parallel:
How paralleling generators scale explains the synchronizing and load sharing behind it.
Rough numbers are fine. Every set is load tested in Red Deer before it ships, and NexSource keeps 24/7 field response running for the length of the rental.
What stays on once everything is up — a kW figure, nameplate amps or a list of what the set will feed.
Its horsepower, and how it starts: straight across the line, through a soft starter or on a drive.
208, 480 or 600 V, three-phase or single. A set at the wrong voltage needs a transformer or a different set.
Line gas or a lease supply, propane, or nothing at all, in which case diesel and a tank.
Whether the set carries the site every day or waits for the utility to drop.
Where it goes, how it gets in, and roughly how long it stays.
At 0.8 power factor a 100 kW three-phase load is 125 kVA, which works out to roughly 347 A at 208 V, 150 A at 480 V and 120 A at 600 V. The amperage calculation table on the tools page lists the same figures for other ratings and voltages.
No. kVA is apparent power and kW is the working part of it. At the usual 0.8 power factor, 100 kVA is only about 80 kW, while a 100 kW set is about 125 kVA. If a spec or a quote mixes the two, ask which one is meant before comparing sets.
Not as a rule. Rental fleets are built from model sizes, so the set that fits a 100 kW load is usually one rated a little below or above it. The grids on this page show the gas and diesel sets in that range that are listed for rent today.
Often, yes. If 100 kW is the running load, a large motor starting across the line can briefly ask for far more, and a set sized to the running figure alone may sag or trip. Send the largest motor and how it starts, and the quote will say whether the next size up is needed.
Gas, where there is a line or a lease supply the set can burn and the gas analysis suits it; some gas sets can also run on propane. Diesel where there is no gas, with a fuel tank sized to the run time. Both are rented in this size range.
It is quoted per job, with no rate card. The size actually needed, the fuel, the term, the distance from Red Deer and any cable or distribution all move the price, and the quote comes back in writing.
Send the load, the largest motor, the voltage and the fuel, and the quote comes back in writing with the set that fits. On units flagged Rent to Own, rental payments can go toward buying the set. NexSource works from Red Deer and supplies sites across Alberta.
