Tech talk: Powering the Beijing Olympics

On August 8, 2008, as the world tunes in to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, there's one Dubai-based company that will help make the spectacular audio-visual experience possible.

Aggreko International, a leading supplier of rental power and temperature control systems, is arranging power supply for the stadiums and the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) that provide satellite feeds to broadcasters around the world.

Major contract

"Under the $35 million (Dh128.5 million) contract with the Beijing Organising Committee, Aggreko will provide 160 MVA (130 MW) of power across 40 Olympic venues in six cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Qingdao, Qinhaungdao and Tianjin," said Julian Ford, Business Development Director of Aggreko International.

The firm will provide generators at each Olympic venue with over 300km of cables and 2,000 distribution systems, and will support ceremonies at the National Stadium in Beijing and power field-of-play lighting, camera equipment and the IBC.

"More than 200 representatives are in China and Hong Kong and many have Olympics' experience," said Ford.

Aggreko has experience in powering major sporting events, including previous Olympics.