BUY New & Used Commercial Backup Generators 1200kW-1399kW GENERATORS FOR SALE

What Can a 1200kW – 1399kW Generator Power?

A 1200kW – 1399kW generator supports enterprise and colocation data centers, healthcare campuses, heavy manufacturing with substantial motor content, cold storage and food processing, municipal water and wastewater treatment, and large distribution facilities. What those operations share is a load meaningful enough to require megawatt-class equipment and an outage cost high enough to justify thinking carefully about failure modes. Facilities buying in this band are also frequently buying two. A single unit backs a mid-to-large facility on its own. Two running in parallel back a facility with the same load plus a redundancy obligation, where a single failure has to degrade capacity rather than eliminate it.

What Paralleling Requires Beyond a Second Generator

Buyers new to redundant configurations often assume paralleling means buying two machines. The equipment is the smaller part of it. Synchronizing switchgear is the central addition. It matches voltage, frequency, and phase between units before closing them onto a common bus, and it manages load sharing once they are running. Modern gear handles this automatically, but it is engineered equipment with its own cost, footprint, and lead time. Controls follow: each generator needs a controller capable of communicating with the others and with the switchgear, which is a specification item rather than an assumption. Commissioning grows more involved as well. Testing a single unit means verifying it starts, picks up load, and holds voltage. Testing a paralleled plant means verifying all of that plus synchronization, load sharing under varying demand, and correct behavior when one unit is taken offline deliberately or fails unexpectedly. The payoff is real. Each machine runs closer to its efficient load band rather than loafing, maintenance can be performed without dropping backup coverage, and the facility survives a single equipment failure. For operations with binding uptime requirements, that combination usually justifies the added complexity. Matched units simplify the whole exercise, and Caterpillar generators and Kohler generators are the most commonly paired at this output. Our shop by brand page shows what else is available.

Sizing Within This Range

Begin with the standard process: catalog every load running concurrently, separate resistive from inductive, and account for the inrush that large motors draw at startup. Then decide the redundancy question, because it changes the arithmetic entirely. Sizing one unit to carry a 1,300 kW load is a different exercise from sizing two units to share it, and different again from sizing two units where either alone must carry the full load. That last configuration, sometimes required by code or contract, means each machine needs full capacity rather than half. Motor starting and derating apply as always. A single across-the-line start on a large chiller can demand several times its running current, and elevation with sustained ambient heat reduces available output in absolute terms that matter at this scale. Our power calculators will get you a working figure, and our team runs full load studies at no cost, including comparisons of single-unit and paralleled configurations.

Right Band, or Adjacent?

If your calculated load sits at or below 1,200 kW, 1000kW – 1199kW generators cover the entry point into megawatt-class power at lower capital cost. If starting transients or expansion plans push the requirement past 1,400 kW, look at 1400kW – 1499kW generators, and above that the 1500kW – 1699kW range where a widely available anchor rating improves sourcing options. To see the full lower megawatt tier in one place, the 1000kW – 1499kW category covers the whole span.

Where a Rental Fits Into a Redundancy Plan

Paralleled installations reduce the need for temporary power, but they do not eliminate it. Facilities rent during the gap between a failed unit and its replacement, while switchgear is being upgraded, or through a turnaround when normal capacity is offline. Our rental division, Stag Power Rentals, covers those windows. Long-term, redundancy is an ownership strategy. The whole point of a paralleled plant is that the capacity is yours, on your pad, tied into your switchgear, and available the moment the utility drops rather than dispatched from a fleet serving everyone else in the region during the same storm. Where the constraint is capital timing rather than the decision, our generator financing options let you build the configuration you specified instead of the one that fit this year’s budget.

Why Buy From Turnkey Industries

Every generator we sell passes a 22-point inspection and load bank testing before it ships. For paralleled installations, verified performance matters twice over, since two machines that were never tested under load are two opportunities for a commissioning delay. We have supplied industrial power equipment for more than a decade. Every purchase is backed by our 30-day IronClad warranty, and our service team handles scheduled testing, preventative maintenance, and repairs for the life of the equipment.

Ready to Buy a 1200kW – 1399kW Generator?

Tell us the load and the redundancy requirement and we will price both the single-unit and paralleled approaches before you commit to either. Browse the full inventory of industrial generators, review the sectors we support on our industries served page, or contact us to discuss your configuration.