Aggreko, which was the official temporary energy services supplier to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games, has completed its crucial role in supporting the events’ Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
Aggreko’s engineers designed and delivered an innovative solution capable of providing 12 MW of power for both the ceremonies and international broadcast functions, which involved staging temporary power equipment on barges on the River Lea adjacent to the stadium. The two barges, each holding four 1,250-kVA generators and four 3,000-liter fuel tanks, housed the only temporary power permitted on the Olympic Park, saving significant space across the location and minimizing impact on the visual experience throughout the opening and closing events.
Aggreko’s power solution enabled Danny Boyle’s opening homage to British heritage to be watched by 80,000 spectators in the Olympic Stadium and broadcast to an estimated global TV audience of 900 million people. The Closing Ceremony was also powered by Aggreko generators.
“We are honored to have played a central role in supporting the execution of some truly memorable events to celebrate London 2012,” said Rupert Soames, chief executive of Aggreko. “Our pride at how well the ceremonies were received by the viewing public was enhanced by knowing that Aggreko was a key part of the infrastructure at what has been a most successful Olympics for Great Britain.
“This is the 12th Olympic Games Aggreko has worked on and we have been committed to assisting LOCOG in delivering an event and Olympic legacy of which Great Britain can be proud. The solution with the barges was designed with LOCOG’s environmental targets in mind, and we worked closely with the Environmental Agency and other organizations to meet those targets.”
Under its contract to supply temporary power to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Aggreko provided 260 MW of power using 550 generator sets, 1,500 kilometers of cable and 5,500 distribution panels across 39 venues. The event is the biggest deployment of temporary power for a single sporting event ever in the U.K.
Based in Scotland with North American headquarters in Houston, Aggreko is the world leader in the supply of temporary power and temperature control solutions. It is No. 6 on the RER 100.
