GE Energy Rentals will provide temporary and backup energy services for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, August 13-29 and the Paralympic Games, also in Athens, September 17-28.

GE will offer backup power to 42 Olympic sites including all commercial venues, the International Broadcast Center, the main press center, the Olympic Village, which will house more than 10,000 athletes from more than 200 countries, and seven media villages. GE will also supply the NBC broadcast of the games, three Athens Olympic Broadcasting secondary compounds and 50 percent of the lighting power needs for 35 sports venues.

GE has supplied rental equipment associated with several previous Olympic Games, including the 2000 games in Sydney, Australia, as well as the NBC broadcast of the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games in 2002, the CBS Sports broadcast of the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, and the NBC broadcast of the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996.

Shipments of the rental equipment to Athens began in March with cable and distribution equipment installations already in process. The effort will require the delivery of more than 350 truckloads of material onto strategic staging areas, including some venues that are not yet completed.

Atlanta-based GE Energy Rentals, No. 17 on the RER 100, offers rental equipment for temporary distributed power and climate-control applications in the commercial, industrial, utility, oil and gas and special events industries.