Emergency power generator requirements: What requirements must your emergency power generator (NSA) meet?
A generator that is used exclusively for emergency situations and that runs for less than 500 hours per year is classified as an emergency power generator. Different requirements apply to emergency power generators than to a normal generator. In addition to legal requirements set by the government, it is of course possible that a specific situation also entails different types of requirements for an emergency power generator. The location and type of work performed at this location can all influence the requirements one has for the specific generator.
Environmental requirements
Since an emergency power generator generally has a certain amount of emissions, environmental rules have been drawn up for this. For emergency power generators, these requirements are laid down in the Combustion Installations Activities Decree. This Activities Decree is part of the broad Activities Decree for environmental management. This decree lays down all environmental regulations that have a potential impact on the environment. The regulation for standard combustion plants applies to aggregates. Diesel, biodiesel or GTL diesel is usually used as fuel.
The Combustion Plant Activities Decree includes limit values for emissions. These emission values differ per type of combustion plant. If you want to know what the specific limit values are for a certain type of generator, ABATO Motoren can of course inform you about this. In order to check whether a generator meets the prescribed values, it is mandatory for most installations to SCIOS inspection to be carried out. Most generators must be inspected within six weeks of commissioning. The periodic inspection and measurement requirements then apply. Within the Activities Decree, a distinction is made between this on the basis of the size of the installation. Important here is the thermal power, this is the power that goes into the engine in the form of fuel.
- Small installations up to a thermal capacity of 20 kW do not need to be inspected.
- Medium-sized installations with a thermal output of up to 100 kW must be inspected at least once every four years.
- Medium-sized installations with a thermal capacity of more than 100 kW must be inspected at least once every two years.
Requirements for a non-running emergency power generator
Many emergency power generators only come on when the power fails and therefore hardly emit any harmful substances. According to the Activities Decree, this means that generators that run less than 500 hours per year do not apply emission values. In this case, the emissions do not need to be measured. However, this does not mean that the generator should not be inspected periodically. The number of operating hours must be demonstrable by means of an hour counter or fuel gauge. An exception to this rule is when the generator is used for peak shaving or an emergency power pool. In this case, even if the generator runs less than 500 hours per year, the installation is regarded as a regularly running generator.
Rules for measurements
The activities decree also lays down the criteria that the measurements must comply with. According to the Activities Decree, a periodic measurement consists of three partial measurements, each lasting a minimum of 15259 minutes and a maximum of half an hour. With these measurements it is important that they are representative and therefore represent the actual average. Due to measurement uncertainty, the limit values may deviate slightly from the values described in the Activities Decree. ABATO Motoren knows exactly what the correct values and permitted deviations are and can therefore carry out this inspection for you. The measurements also comply with NEN-ENXNUMX.
If you have a generator that you would like to have inspected, ABATO Motoren can do this for you. ABATO Motoren is officially SCIOS certified and can therefore carry out the mandatory SCIOS Inspection(s) for you. This concerns both the Scope 4, Scope 7C and the Scope 6 inspection. These periodic inspections can also be easily combined with annual maintenance. The results of the SCIOS inspections are recorded in the national SCIOS registry. In addition, you will also receive a report with which you can inform authorities and insurance companies, for example, that measurements, maintenance and inspections have taken place correctly.
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