Kohler Load Bank Financing

A generator that has never been loaded under real conditions is a generator you have not actually tested. Utilities, data centers, hospitals, and any serious standby power operator know that a monthly no-load run proves the engine starts, nothing more. A true load bank test, where the generator is brought to 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of rated load in sequence, is what confirms the cooling system can handle the thermal load, the governor holds frequency under step changes, and the machine will actually ride through the outage scenario it was purchased for. Kohler sells load bank equipment alongside its generator line specifically to support commissioning and ongoing annual compliance testing. We fund Kohler power system equipment including load banks from $50k, new or used, standalone or bundled with a genset purchase, B/C credit considered, with a close in one to two weeks.

Kohler load banks are less commonly financed as standalone purchases and more typically appear in package deals where a buyer is acquiring a new or used generator and wants to include the testing equipment in a single financed transaction. Standalone load bank transactions at the commercial scale (resistive or resistive-reactive units in the 500 kW to 2,000 kW range) qualify on their own when the purchase price meets our minimum.

Load banks apply a controlled electrical load to a generator's output, simulating the demand the machine would see during an actual outage event. There are three main types relevant to genset testing:

• Resistive load banks: Convert electrical energy to heat through resistive elements. Test at unity power factor (1.0 PF). Required for basic commissioning and annual NFPA 110 compliance testing at hospitals, data centers, and other critical facilities. The most common type in commercial generator testing.
• Reactive (inductive or capacitive) load banks: Introduce reactive load to test the generator's voltage regulation and power factor handling. Necessary when the real connected loads include motors, transformers, and other inductive equipment.
• Resistive-reactive combination units: Handle both test modes from a single portable unit, which is the preferred choice for facilities that need both capabilities without maintaining two separate pieces of test equipment.

Kohler's load bank line, including towable units for mobile testing applications, is designed to pair with the voltage and frequency output of Kohler's own generator line, though load banks are electrically universal and work with any generator's output. A facility that runs a Kohler KD Series industrial generator and acquires a matching Kohler load bank has a coherent testing ecosystem from a single service and support relationship.

The capital cost of commercial load bank equipment ranges from roughly $30,000 for a small 100 kW resistive portable unit up through $250,000 or more for large trailer-mounted 2,000 kW resistive-reactive combination units. The size needed tracks the largest generator the buyer needs to test at full load.

Three buyer types drive load bank financing. Generator service contractors and testing firms that offer commissioning and annual compliance testing as a revenue-generating service are the primary standalone load bank buyer. A testing firm that adds a 2,000 kW trailer-mounted unit to its fleet can contract for annual NFPA 110 testing at hospitals, data centers, and industrial facilities across a region. The load bank pays for itself through testing contracts. We finance these as business equipment purchases against the contractor's cash flow and the equipment's value.

Facilities with large standby generator fleets sometimes purchase their own load bank rather than contracting annual testing externally. A data center operator with six gensets at a campus facility can run quarterly partial-load tests and annual full-load commissioning with an owned unit rather than scheduling and paying a contractor each time. The capital cost of ownership over five to seven years often runs lower than the cumulative contract testing cost.

Generator rental companies add load bank units to their fleets for two reasons: to test and commission rental fleet generator units before dispatch, and to rent the load bank itself to customers who need temporary testing capability. A rental load bank that goes out on the same truck as the generator is a revenue-generating asset rather than a cost center. We finance rental fleet load bank acquisitions alongside the gensets they are paired with when the buyer is acquiring both.

For load banks bundled with a generator purchase, the load bank is simply part of the total package collateral. A buyer financing a $200,000 generator and a $75,000 load bank gets a $275,000 transaction with one approval and one set of docs. The load bank adds to the total collateral value, which often supports a cleaner approval position than the genset alone.

For standalone load bank purchases that meet our $50k minimum, we treat the load bank as the primary equipment collateral. Resistive-reactive combination units landing between $100k and $250k are strong collateral for this purpose. The load bank market has active secondary buyers because the equipment is universally compatible with any generator brand and any voltage class. Buyers who are also financing an industrial generator alongside the load bank can bundle both into one transaction. That market liquidity supports our loan-to-value position.

Term lengths on load bank equipment typically run 24 to 60 months. Shorter terms for buyers who want to own the asset outright quickly. Longer terms for buyers optimizing cash flow while the load bank generates contract testing revenue to service the payment. We also discuss equipment lease structures for buyers whose organizations prefer operating expense treatment or who want a defined upgrade path when larger-capacity units become available. The generator testing sector does evolve, and a lease with a technology upgrade provision can make sense for testing contractors who expect to need larger capacity in a few years.

Tell us whether the load bank is standalone or part of a generator package, the kW capacity, whether resistive or reactive, new or used, and the total transaction value. Same-day structure. For testing contractors who need the unit commissioned before a contract start date, let us know the deadline and we will confirm whether our timeline works before you commit to the purchase.