Power - Host City

Aggreko commits to greener future

(Photo: Aggreko)

[Source: Aggreko] Aggreko has cemented its position as a green supplier of temporary power, heating and cooling solutions after being certified to the Carbon Trust Standard and achieving certification to ISO 50001:2018 international standard for energy management.

By implementing ISO 50001, Aggreko has committed to reduce its energy consumption, minimise its carbon footprint and promote sustainable energy usage. This includes applying both internal and external guiding principles including the integration of energy reduction considerations and increasing fuel efficiency in our fleet and solutions offerings for its customers.

Replacing the Carbon & Energy Management and Reduction Scheme (CEMARS), the Carbon Trust Standard is the world’s leading independent certification of an organisation’s achievements in managing and reducing carbon emissions. By accrediting Aggreko to the Standard, the Carbon Trust has independently recognised the company as taking a best practice approach to achieving real year-on-year reductions.

As part of its commitment to both accrediting bodies, Aggreko will significantly reduce its power-related carbon emissions. With this pledge in mind, the company has also switched its electricity contract to 100% renewable electricity, with all annual electricity demand required to supply Aggreko’s Service Centres being generated by offshore wind generators.

Aggreko is also reducing carbon and energy use internally by reviewing its vehicle fleet, and has already taken steps to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions using vehicle tracking, driver training, more electric plug-in vehicles and work planning using technological innovations.

Furthermore, the company provides generators that work with alternative greener fuels such as natural gas, biofuel and hydrotreated vegetable oil, or HVO. This includes providing remote monitoring technology on equipment to improve efficiency, regularly reviewing products to ensure compliance with latest emissions standards. It is also developing renewable energies including modular PV and hybrid solutions that consist of different technologies, batteries and modular solar panels.

Chris Rason, UK Managing Director at Aggreko, said: “Delivering sustainable growth and limiting the impact our business has on the environment is extremely important for Aggreko. As a business, we have made a number of commitments and by implementing ISO 50001, and getting the Carbon Trust Standard, we will ensure that we continue to improve our energy efficiency.

“The Carbon Trust Standard will allow us to monitor and manage our energy performance to help aid year-on-year reductions. Through verified environmental impact data, regulation compliance will be ensured, which in turn will help our customers. Working with the Carbon Trust closely will allow us to benchmark our performance and, perhaps most importantly, identify opportunities for improvement and implement these.”

Chris Rason concluded: “Aggreko has a vision to be the greenest provider of temporary power equipment and our aim for the next year is to help customers become greener. As a business, we are taking active responsibility to limit the impact our business has on the environment and we look forward to seeing the positive changes these real commitments through certification will have.”

For more information, please visit www.aggreko.com.

Aggreko launches interactive 3D tour of global events

[Source: Aggreko] The interactive tour harnesses the latest 3D technology to develop an immersive experience that demonstrates what it takes to power global events of scale. Viewers can experience the process from generation to transmission, demonstrating the complexity of solutions required so that spectators and competitors can enjoy their favourite events without interruption. 

Supporting a project of scale requires complex infrastructure and meticulous planning to ensure the delivery of reliable, flexible power. Aggreko’s decades of experience and strong track record means it has developed an operational playbook and the skills needed to provide power solutions for projects of any scale, whether it is the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, a remote mine in West Africa or a construction site in central Manhattan. 

To give an idea of the complexity involved, at this year’s Rugby World Cup, Aggreko provided a total of 32.5 MVA of electricity to power the 12 match venues and international broadcast centre. More than 1.8 million tickets were sold for this year’s tournament, with a record 99.3% attendance and an estimated 400 million people tuning in worldwide, making this the most watched Rugby World Cup in history. Clearly, the need for a constant, reliable stream of power was paramount. 

To see exactly what’s involved in powering events of scale, the interactive tour can be viewed here https://www.aggreko.com/en/sectors-and-services/events 

 

Aggreko recommends using Google Chrome in order to get the most out of the experience.

How Glastonbury Festival got greener with Aggreko

[Source: Aggreko] To support its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and pursuing more efficient ways of providing power, Aggreko, the world-leading provider of mobile modular power, temperature control and energy services, introduced a number of emission-reducing power solutions at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.

Aggreko is proud to have been the exclusive power supplier for the festival since 2007, and in 2019 several locations at the festival were powered by hybrid thermal-solar generators, combined with battery storage systems and proprietary energy management software. This ensures maximum efficiency and minimise the carbon impact and together, these innovative systems saved over 200 metric tonnes of CO2 across the course of the festival, compared to the use of traditional diesel generators.

Uniquely, the festival’s Green Fields HQ ran entirely on solar power for the duration of the festival, which when combined with the battery storage systems, provided a reliable power source during the hours of festival operation.

In addition, this year saw the use of cleaner, healthier fuel deployed in Aggreko generators – Green D+, a special blend of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), purchased by Glastonbury directly. HVO fuel which is made to an international specification, is derived from a mix of 100 per cent used vegetable oils and waste fats. All carbon is removed in the production process resulting in a biofuel of higher consistency, quality and purity than other biofuels.

Green D+ includes additives that produce a fuel that has several advantages over standard diesel, including a significant reduction in particulates, over 80 per cent saving on greenhouse gases, zero sulphur emissions and reduced noise pollution.

By switching to this fuel, which works in all Aggreko diesel generators without modification, Aggreko achieved a C02 saving equivalent to the annual emissions of 45 family cars.

Bill Egan, a Principle Engineer at Aggreko Events Services who has a been working with Glastonbury Festival for over 25 years, said: “Powering a major event like Glastonbury presents a huge challenge. Providing 25MW of low-carbon power with the reliability to ensure that there are no disappointments for the festival-goers is no mean feat.

“Aggreko’s use of low carbon HVO fuel, combined with our innovative thermal, hybrid, storage and solar power solutions will ensure that everyone enjoys the festival without interruption, all the whilst supporting Glastonbury’s efforts to minimise its impact on the environment”.

The festival took place from 26th – 30th June. It is the largest greenfield festival in the world, attended by around 175,000 people. The five-day festival near Pilton, Somerset, is regarded as a major event in British culture and raises millions of pounds for good causes.

Aggreko to power Rugby World Cup 2019 Japan

[Source: Aggreko, March 2019] Aggreko is proud to announce it will be providing critical power and distribution for the ninth Rugby World Cup, which takes place from 20 September to 2 November, in Japan. This will be the first time the tournament is to be held in Asia, providing a great showcase for the sport in the region and across the world.

The global leader in mobile, modular power, heating, cooling and energy services will supply the power to 12 venues spread across Japan, as well as the International Broadcast Centre that is responsible for providing the television coverage to millions of fans across the world.

Aggreko is tasked with all critical power systems and distribution for all broadcast activities, and Field of Play Backup Systems too. Venues are spread around the country, providing a logistical challenge, so Aggreko will ensure around 80 engineers will be on site to support the operations and logistics. 

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: "We are delighted to welcome Aggreko as a supplier for Rugby World Cup 2019. The appointment of company with a proven track record in major events delivery to the tournament commercial family will further broaden the reach and profile of what is shaping-up to be the most popular Rugby World Cup ever with record ticket demand and the biggest-ever broadcast and digital media footprint."

“Aggreko are proud to be chosen to provide our critical services to such a global and prestigious event as Rugby World Cup 2019. We have ample experience handling the worlds’ biggest events, and the 2019 Rugby World Cup certainly falls under that category.” said Robert Wells, Managing Director, Aggreko Events Services.

Aggreko have been involved in some of the biggest events in the world, providing their services to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and the 2018 Ryder Cup in Parisamong many.

Rugby World Cup 2019 is on track to be the event to attend in 2019 with unprecedented ticketing demand during the priority and public phases to date. Fans interested in attending Asia's first Rugby World Cup can find out more via the official website at www.rugbyworldcup.com/tickets, where tickets are currently on sale. The site also contains details of the official supporter tour and hospitality programmes.

Aggreko awarded $200m contract to power Tokyo 2020 Olympics

[Source: Aggreko] Aggreko plc, the global leader in the rental of power, heating and cooling, is pleased to announce that its subsidiary Aggreko Events Services Japan Limited ('AESJL') has been awarded the supply contract in the category of 'Temporary Electricity Generation' by The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

As part of the supply contract AESJL will provide temporary electricity (generation and distribution) systems to support the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. AESJL's extended scope of supply includes temporary medium and low voltage power systems across 43 competition venues, the Athletes Village and the International Broadcast Centre, ensuring reliable power for all stakeholders in the venues and uninterrupted television broadcast to millions of viewers.

The value of the supply contract is expected to be in the region of $200m, and reinforces Aggreko's confidence in its ability to achieve its mid-teens ROCE target in 2020.

Aggreko has a proven track record in supporting high profile events including this year's PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, European Championships in Glasgow and Ryder Cup in France.

Chris Weston, Chief Executive Officer said: "We are delighted to have secured what is one of the most prestigious event contracts won by Aggreko. Our experienced team will support the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee to ensure our role in the success of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games is flawlessly delivered."

Event excellence, from PyeongChang to the Gold Coast

Two global sporting events. Tens of millions of eyes on the action that unfolds. Two months apart.

How did Aggreko power both the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and the 2018 Commonwealth Games in such a short space of time, not to mention providing temperature control in two wildly contrasting climates?

It seems like an impossible task, but Aggreko’s event services teams are specialists in mobile and modular power, heating, cooling and energy services for good reason.

The Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games of 2018 took place in average temperatures of -4oC. Power totalling 140 MW was provided using Aggreko’s containerised generators as well as around 985km of cabling – 100 times taller than the height of Everest. This was sufficient to power 20 venues, overseen by 95 of Aggreko’s experts on site to ensure a smooth project.

Just two months later, the portable power, temperature control and energy storage specialist deployed 30 MW of power, stretched across 1700km of Australia’s beautiful Gold Coast, for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. This involved 120 experts on site and 34 venues in balmy temperatures of 23oC.

Both occasions were enjoyed by millions. Spectators packed the stands at both locations, enthralled by the thrills and spills of sporting competition. Behind the scenes, Aggreko were hard at work, optimising output, making sure that every variable was monitored and performing to its maximum.

To get to this point involved months of planning and design. The respective sites shared no common ground, and the teams responsible for constructing a plan had to consider plenty before finalising a directive for action.

During the Gold Coast Games there was much more space to cover than in Pyeongchang, but in Pyeongchang, the average temperature and ice-cold mountain winds would require special preparations for equipment to face this extreme climate.

Aggreko works closely with organising committees and this collaboration helps to highlight pre-existing systems, the functionality of the local grid and various solutions that can work around these potential pitfalls. This forms a partnership rather than a conventional business setup, where trust is created, and the supplier can get the best idea of exactly what is needed.

Each project is different and with Aggreko’s extensive experience in this sector, they have the expertise – and the modular products – to mould their specialist solutions to perfectly fit the varying requirements.

This is how Aggreko overcame the odds to offer these global events the reliability they craved, ensuring that its reputation for excellence in the field of events is maintained and warranted.

A triumphant year for Aggreko

David de Behr is speaking at Host City 2018 on the topic of “Reimagining Major Event Delivery”. Host City 2018 takes place in Glasgow on 20-21 November (Photo: Host City)

Host City: 2018 has been a big year for Aggreko powering major events, starting with the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang – what were the biggest challenges there?

David de Behr: As with any winter event we do, the weather conditions are always the biggest challenge – and with the magnitude of the Olympics, the volume of equipment, processes and people needed to execute promptly are key.

We faced extreme cold temperatures and winds while building up the temporary power services requested to run the Games smoothly in PyeongChang – and this required a lot of endurance from our equipment and a lot of energy from our specialist engineers.

We adapted to meet these challenges head on. We modified all our fuel tanks by adding heat elements, generators were equipped to run in the cold climate and the project team had to plan all operations very tightly to meet the client deadlines.

The endurance level of our people deserves to be recognised; they never lost sight of the objective and their dedication in the face of some incredible obstacles was key to our success.

 

Host City: Your next project in 2018 was the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast – how did this compare as a project for Aggreko?

David de Behr: The Gold Coast Games were special as they were not located within one city but held in a region. Australia has always been very special to Aggreko as it is one of our oldest markets and so it was fantastic to see the synergy between Aggreko Australia and our experienced Major Events team putting together this project.

We worked with a very experienced organising committee (GOLDOC), which had a very clear view on how they wanted to deliver the Games, and the partnership with our experienced project team meant we had a very fluent build up towards the Games.

Using our design program to give financial transparency throughout the contract was appreciated by the organising committee and the rest is history: great Games in a beautiful region with enthusiastic engagement from the public – a job well done!

 

Host City: The European Championships in Glasgow was a new format of event, combining multiple sports – what were your perceptions of this and how did Aggreko contribute to its success?

David de Behr: Glasgow is and always will be special to Aggreko – our roots and our manufacturing plant are located in Glasgow.

This new format of event coming to our town, and being able to harness a lot of the infrastructure from the 2014 Commonwealth Games, made it a perfect match for us.

We were very impressed by the enthusiasm around the Championships and strongly believe it will grow as an event in the future.

For our teams on the ground it was a pleasant return to the venues we powered in 2014. Working very closely with the organising committee, we were able to tailor and deliver the event within everyone’s expectations.

 

Host City: After all those multi-sports projects, you also powered the Ryder Cup in France – what are the requirements there?

David de Behr: The difference with the other 2018 events is that the Ryder Cup is a massive single venue event.

It forms part of our long-term relationship with the European Tour. The exciting part this time, unlike our previous involvement with Ryder Cups, was that the 2018 incarnation was held outside of the UK, near Paris.

150 lorries packed full of equipment were delivered to install all temporary power and HVAC systems on the massive site. It was project managed by an English-French Aggreko project team with the first members of our team on the ground in May.

The beauty of such golf tournaments is also the main challenge – the players and public can walk almost everywhere – and so planning and design are key to the success of the event for us.

Another challenge is the seasonal weather – the climate could be very unpredictable and so we had to prepare for all temperature control eventualities. Our temperature control systems are designed to be able to cope with this changing environment.

The outcome was really impressive and the Ryder Cup week was one that many will not forget for a long time!

 

David de Behr is speaking at Host City 2018 on the topic of “Reimagining Major Event Delivery”. Host City 2018 takes place in Glasgow on 20-21 November

Aggreko announces joint venture with Shanghai Yude in China

[Source: Aggreko] The new company starts trading immediately as Shanghai Yude AggrekoEnergy Equipment Rental Co Ltd. The move is part of Aggreko’s long-term strategy to grow its business in China with an experienced and respected local partner.
Aggreko takes 21.5 percent equity in the new company and operations will be managed by Shanghai Yude in line with Aggreko’s class-leading standards and procedures. 
Aggreko is the global leader in mobile, modular power and heating and cooling, and will initially provide diesel generators and associated range of ancillaries to supplement Shanghai Yude existing power equipment and UPS rental business.
“This mutually beneficial partnership with Shanghai Yude means we can bring reliable power and joint expertise to a rapidly growing market,” said Stephen Beynon, Managing Director, Aggreko Power Solutions.
“The UK and China have strong commercial ties that go way back, and we are delighted to be able to work with a local partner that has extensive local experience and expertise. We look forward to continuing to provide reliable, uninterrupted and cost-effective power to China in collaboration with a company that shares our values of making a difference and supporting growth in communities and industries across the globe.”
Yude was established in Shanghai in 2005 and has 45 employees. The company currently has more than 40 MW of power generation capacity and supports local industries, including events and construction. Aggreko is based in UK and has more than 7,300 employees globally. It has been operating in China since 2008, and has a depot, and offices in Shanghai, which will be one of two facilities supporting the new company.
China currently is the world’s largest producer and consumer of electrical power.
The Yude Aggreko joint venture will initially provide power generation equipment in Shanghai, with scope to provide loadbank equipment and services as demand increases.
 

Aggreko to power the Glasgow 2018 European Championships

Scotland-based Aggreko has today been announced as OfficialTemporary Power Supporter for the Glasgow 2018 European Championships.

A global leader in mobile, modular power generation, the firm will provide both temporary and continuous prime power across the Championships’ competition and non-competition venues.

Aggreko will provide around 60 generators supplying more than 10 Mega Volt Amp (MVA) of energy, distributed through more than 240 panels and 26 km of cable to ensure the successful delivery of 84 thrilling sessions of sport including Open Water Swimming at Loch Lomond and Mountain Biking at Cathkin Braes.

The firm will also help power Festival 2018 – a dynamic cultural programme which will showcase the best in music, visual art, street art, dance, theatre and digital art across the city, with Glasgow’s iconic George Square at its heart.

Temporary power will be used in conjunction with existing venue infrastructure to meet all of the Championship’s power requirements over the 11-day celebration of sport and culture in August 2018.

Having supplied temporary power to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2014 Ryder Cup and London 2012 Olympic Games, Aggreko boasts an excellent reputation for powering the biggest global multi-sport events.

2018 will see the firm support PyeongChang Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Aileen Campbell, Minister for Public Health and Sport, said: “The Glasgow 2018 European Championships provides a fantastic opportunity for Scotland to demonstrate why we have an impeccable reputation for hosting major sporting events. By working with businesses who know exactly what it takes to put on successful international events, we can ensure Glasgow 2018 is a memorable occasion for athletes, officials and fans alike.”

Leader of Glasgow City Council, Councillor Susan Aitken, said: “The latest addition to the Glasgow 2018 sponsor family, Aggreko has helped deliver excellent multi-sport events around the world. Working with a well-known brand with its roots in Scotland will help guarantee the success of the inaugural European Championships.”

Robert Wells, Managing Director, Aggreko Major Events Services, said: “Aggreko is proud to support the first staging of the prestigious Glasgow 2018 European Championships. We look forward to working with the team and Glasgow city to ensure the faultless delivery of power to the Championships. There is no better place to do this than in Scotland.”

In a world first, Glasgow 2018 will bring together some of the continent’s leading sports including the existing European Championships for Aquatics, Cycling, Gymnastics, Rowing and Triathlon with a new Golf Team Championships between 2 – 12 August 2018.

 

Exclusive Q&A: Why is sustainability so important for major events?

Why is sustainability so important for major events?

Gary Meador (GM): Organising committees and bid cities are always weighing up the cost benefit of permanent versus temporary infrastructure; and creating a lasting legacy versus leaving things as the way you found them. A lot of the LOCs (local organising committees) are considering, along with the public consciousness, the most efficient and sustainable way to host major events, whether it is an international sporting event or music festival.

What a lot of the events are looking at now is they don’t necessarily need to build everything as a legacy. Not every city has the need for a permanent velodrome or a rowing venue. One of the things that Aggreko is really good at is working with customers to find innovative solutions to challenges around temporary power, air-conditioning and heating, or whatever their needs may be – to come in and help them make as little impact on the venue. At the end of the event we pick our stuff up and go away.

On the other hand, we also work with event organisers to help design what are meant to be legacy venues. We use our experience and key learnings during the planning phases, acting as a strategic partner as early as possible, to contribute to ideas on how infrastructure can be built or where it will have a fair use afterwards for example.

The benefit of adopting temporary power and cooling systems means you don’t have to build a venue to meet its peak requirements. You can build it to be somewhat less than that and supplement with on-site services to meet the additional capacity demand during the event.

For example, for a building that would normally seat 20,000 for a regular sporting event but has to seat 30,000 for a major event, you don’t have to put in an air-conditioning system that will cool 30,000 people, just one for 20,000 people that can be supplemented.

There’s all kinds of different ways we can work with LOCs to help them meet those goals.

 

You mentioned LOCs, do you work with them at this stage when they become an organising committee or is this something that potential event bidders can be thinking about earlier in the game?

GM: I think it’s definitely beneficial to think about sustainability earlier because a lot of people don’t have a great deal of experience with the temporary. Their only base of knowledge is working with a design-engineering firm, for example, that have only ever designed permanent structures. The earlier we can get involved the greater the opportunity is to improve efficiency and help create lasting benefits for the organising committees as they move forward.

It doesn’t have to be an organising committee, it could be the PGA of America, the US Golf Association or Formula 1, that’s just something we have developed a special niche for in the past 30 years.

 

Do you think that the rights holders and event organisers are fully aware of the possibilities of how solutions, like your temporary power solutions for instance, can make an event more sustainable?

GM: We are trying our level best to raise awareness of the benefits of temporary systems, but no I think that knowledge is still low. We have a lot of work to do moving in that direction. It’s not just our discipline; it’s the tent companies, the bleacher companies, the restroom trailer companies, everyone. We have mastered the ‘art of the temporary’ and either supplement or fully provide services for an event from start to finish but need to spread the word on the benefits of this approach.

 

Which particular events have you been working on recently to enable these sustainable solutions?

GM: We have supported quite a few major events on the world’s stage lately: the Ryder Cup in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Trump inauguration in Washington DC. We didn’t have a huge amount of time to think about sustainable solutions for the inauguration as it comes together virtually in a week after the election, but at the Ryder Cup we were able to do some neat things.

We introduced some LED lighted balloons that replaced standard diesel-generated light towers. We took some of those to the site, plugged into the on-site power source we were already providing, and helped the PGA of America eliminate the need for 20 light towers they would have had to rent. I think this saved about 40,000 tonnes of carbon across the length of the job.

We are trying to find innovative ways to work with event organisers and help them to meet their sustainability goals too. We are looking at battery technology to come in and maybe take over a small load at night, so the generator can shut off and the load can run on battery. Then when the load grows larger than the battery system, the generators start back up during the day.

We are continuing to look at new innovations likes these to really help events lower their carbon profile and meet their sustainability goals as well as cost savings. We owe it to our customers to help them find better and economical ways to do things. That’s part of our mission.

 

Energy storage is becoming increasingly important for a whole range of industries, but you can see why in the major events sector…

GM: Yes, we are waiting for that magic battery to be built that makes it ultra-efficient to store this power too. The technology isn’t quite there on the batteries, but it’s getting better.

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