Explore essential considerations for selecting paralleling switchgear that supports reliable power, system flexibility, scalability, and efficient operation.Paralleling switchgear is an effective way to coordinate multiple generators, manage changing loads, and maintain critical equipment during an outage but choosing the right equipment isn’t just about selecting one that can handle your generators' combined output.
The system also needs to work with your facility's electrical loads, generator controls, protection equipment, and existing power switching infrastructure. The right setup can manage current loads while also accommodating future changes to your power system.
If you’re wondering how you can select the right Paralleling Switchgear System, then this guide explains how to select the right paralleling switchgear system for your facility.
In this guide, we'll cover eight key considerations that will help you evaluate your options and pick the right paralleling switchgear system based on how your facility actually needs to operate.
These key considerations include:
Before selecting paralleling switchgear, you need to understand how much power your facility requires under normal conditions and which loads need to remain powered during an outage.
You should look at your total connected load, peak electrical demand, starting requirements for large motors and other equipment, and your expected future demand. You should also assign different priorities to your loads so that the critical equipment receives power first during an outage.
If available generator capacity becomes limited, lower-priority loads can be disconnected to protect the system while maintaining power to more important equipment.
Your generators and paralleling switchgear need to work together as a system. Beyond the power output, you should also consider generator controls, voltage, frequency, synchronization capabilities, and other operating characteristics.
When your generators operate in parallel, they must be properly synchronized before being connected to the same electrical bus. This becomes particularly important when you're adding generators to an existing Power System.
So, before choosing equipment, confirm that the proposed switchgear and controls are compatible with all generator sets that will operate as part of the system.
Your power requirements today may not be the same five or ten years from now. You may add production equipment, expand your building, increase critical loads, or add additional generators as your power requirements grow.
You should therefore consider the switchgear as part of your long-term power system design.A modular switchgear design may allow you to easily add tie breakers or generator control sections as your facility demand grows.
This early planning for expansion can help you avoid redesigning the entire power system later. Also, ensure that the room has the physical space to accommodate future switchgear line-ups.
If multiple generators will operate together, automatic synchronization and load sharing are key engineering specifications that you should consider. Synchronization involves matching characteristics such as voltage, frequency, and phase relationship.
Once the generators are operating together, load-sharing controls help distribute the facility's electrical demand between the available generators. Some systems may also use load demand controls to determine how many generators need to operate at a particular level of facility demand.
Paralleling multiple power sources requires appropriate protection to help prevent equipment damage and unsafe operating conditions.
The switchgear may incorporate or coordinate with protective relays, circuit breakers, generator protection, and other protective devices. These systems can monitor the electrical conditions and initiate protective actions when abnormal conditions occur.
Your protection requirements can also vary significantly depending on the system design. If you’re planning on adding generators for emergency backup, it’s also important to check the NFPA 110 requirements for generator equipment and accessories.
When evaluating a system, consider how much information your facility team needs to see and how much of the operation should be automated. Depending on the system design, control panels can offer generator sequencing, synchronization, load sharing, metering, alarms, protective functions, and remote monitoring.
The goal is not simply to have more controls but to give your operators the information and level of automation they actually need to manage your facility's power system effectively.
Paralleling switchgear is also part of your facility's broaderpower switching system. It may need to work alongside automatic transfer switches, circuit breakers, generators, and other distribution equipment to control how power moves between available sources.
You should also look at the available installation space, generator locations, and access for installation and maintenance before selecting your equipment. This becomes especially important for an existing facility as the new system needs to work with what is already installed rather than creating unnecessary changes elsewhere in the facility.
Paralleling switchgear is part of your critical power system so, beyond initial installation, you should also consider how it will be maintained, tested, supported, and upgraded over its operating life.
Ask your potential suppliers about preventive maintenance, testing and commissioning, replacement parts, control-system upgrades, remote monitoring, troubleshooting, and service availability.
With these eight key considerations, you can select the right equipment for your facility, one that not only works for your current needs but offers future scalability too.
Paralleling switchgear is can be especially useful for commercial facilities that need to coordinate multiple generator sets plus capitalize the link for reliable power backup.
Some common applications of switchgear includes:
Used in critical facilities like data centres, hospitals, and airports to combine multiple backup generators to meet heavy load demands and ensure little downtime.
Deployed in remote locations, mines, or islands where utility power is unavailable and you need to run multiple generators in parallel to reliably share the total site load.
Applied in industrial or commercial sites to parallel generators with the utility grid, reducing high peak-hour electricity costs by shifting a portion of the facility load onto on-site generation.
Used when surplus power generated on-site is fed back into the local utility grid or combined with renewable energy sources like solar and wind.
Installed to provide system redundancy; if one generator fails or undergoes maintenance, the remaining units automatically scale to support most of the critical load.
If you’re considering adding a microgrid to your facility, you can check our guide to learn more about available microgrid solutions.
There isn't a single paralleling switchgear configuration that works for every facility. The right system depends on your generators, electrical loads, operating requirements, and future plans.
The table below provides a practical checklist for selecting the right paralleling switchgear system for your facility.
It’s also important to evaluate the complete power system, not just the switchgear.Your generator controls, power switching system, distribution equipment, protection, and communications all need to work together.
Selecting and integrating paralleling switchgear requires an understanding of both the equipment and the facility it will serve.
A specialist can help you evaluate your power requirements, determine how generators should operate together, select appropriate controls and protection, and integrate the system with your existing electrical infrastructure.
At Curtis Power Solutions, we provide paralleling switchgear and power control solutions for emergency standby, prime power, and utility-parallel applications. These systems can include generator controls, load management, metering, protective relays, circuit breakers, and remote and on-site monitoring capabilities.
We also provide Engineering and design assistance, equipment integration, commissioning, testing, and ongoing operations and maintenance support.
If you’re considering paralleling switchgear, we’ll help you build a power system that fits the way your facility operates and your future goals. Contact Curtis Power Solutions to discuss your needs.
Paralleling switchgear improves power reliability by synchronizing multiple generators to a common electrical system. So, if one generator becomes unavailable, the remaining generators may continue supplying power, depending on the available capacity and system design.
Yes, paralleling switchgear is specifically designed to work with multiple generators so they can be synchronized to operate as a unified power source.
Factors that affect paralleling switchgear selection include total load requirements, peak demand, critical and non-critical loads, electrical specifications, control architecture, and load management needs.
Yes, can be expanded paralleling switchgear when it’s built for future scalability through a modular design.
Paralleling switchgear generally requires routine visual inspections roughly 12 months and comprehensive testing roughly 3 to 5 years for reliable operations.