Permanently installed standby generator.
1) are ground rods required at the generator?
2) can you use type SER aluminum cable to feed the panel?

1) This information will be in the generators installation instructions. More than likely you will be required to install them.

2) Are you going above ground or underground?

You will not be allowed to connect these conductors directly to your panelboard.

They must be connected to a transfer switch that "Breaks" the connection from the main panelboard before it "Makes" the connection to the circuits that you need to be powered.

If you go directly to the panelboard, some poor lineman down the block who knows he is working on a dead line will find power backfed from your panelboard. The problem is that when the power travels from the panelboard back through the utility's cables it also gets boosted by the effects of the transformers it encounters.