Aggreko Talks World Cup Challenges, Innovations for Broadcasters

(ATR) The director of event services at Aggreko, the official power supplier to the FIFA World Cup, tells Around the Rings the company’s cutting-edge technology will ensure all broadcasters’ demands are met.

Aggreko, which was chosen to provide rental solutions to the tournament last November, will provide power and temperature control services across the 12 host cities as well as to the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) located in Rio de Janeiro’s Riocentro, the largest exhibition centre in Latin America.

With a cumulative global audience of several billion tuning into the 64 tournament matches, and millions of sponsorship dollars invested, uninterrupted broadcasting is critical to the success of the FIFA showpiece.

Aggreko can call up experience of working on nine Olympic Games and five FIFA World Cups.

In addition to providing primary and technical backup power for the IBC and technical power to the 12 stadiums, the company is also the sole power provider of the tournament’s LED screens at the venues.

Aggreko’s Gary Meador, who worked on the South Africa 2010 World Cup and the London 2012 Olympics and many other mega-events over the past two decades, says Brazil 2014 represents a new benchmark for the company.

"We have built a brand new series of generators over the last two years, a lot of it to meet government standards in various countries as far as emissions and fuel efficiency," he told Around the Rings.

"I would say the technology on this World Cup would be superior to the technology on the last one for sure. We are going to have a lot cleaner burning engines and more fuel efficient."

More reassuring for the broadcasters who rely on Aggreko’s expertise is another innovation – the integration of a remote monitoring system which can track via GPS and cellular connections any issues that arise at the IBC and stadiums.

"We have remote monitoring centres around the world that can actually monitor if a unit is about to have a problem. They can phone the local technician on the ground and he can sometimes prevent a problem from even happening," added Meador, who has worked for I have worked for Aggreko for more than 23 years.

"That is something we are bringing which we are proud of. It is understanding what the customers’ value and trying to find solutions."

Despite the catalogue of problems that have dogged Brazil’s World Cup preparations, most of them centring on the stadiums, Meador doesn’t envisage any problems scuppering Aggreko’s smooth operations.

"Aggreko has a huge operation in Brazil and a team on the ground," he said, noting that when it won the FIFA contract in November it wasn't necessary to have boat-loads of equipment shipped in.

"With six to 12 months of planning you can easily pull off events like this. We don’t anticipate any issues at all. We’re right on course," he said.

Meador talks about Aggreko’s "long history of powering broadcasters" for mega-events and the "greatrelationships" forged with them over many years.

"When we show up they know they are going to get the quality and they know they are going to get it at the right time," he said.

Building delays at several of the World Cup stadiums, including those in Porto Alegre and Sao Paulo, have triggered concerns from FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke that temporary overlay structures for broadcasters and sponsors may not be completed on time.

But Meador indicated that he wasn’t expecting Aggreko to face a race against time to finish its preparation work in the build-up to the June 12 kick-off.

Admitting that testing Aggreko’s power solutions in the IBC and 12 stadiums was crucial ahead of the Brazil v Croatia opener, he insisted: "The thing that go on with the stadium that aren’t broadcast-related really don’t affect us because we are coming in with a complete temporary overlay that will be laid down for the broadcasters."

Meador said the World Cup was again a big test for Aggreko and a showcase of its capabilities.

"These things [mega events] grow and become grander and grander. There’s nothing like the World Cup," he said.

"We will take a lot of pride in powering a broadcast that we know two billion-plus people are watching. That’s an awesome responsibility."

Facts and Figures

* A total of 50 MW will be provided for the event – enough to power around 50,000 homes

* A total of 150km (93 miles) of cable and a thousand distribution panels will be used for the effective delivery of solutions

* Around 100 technicians will be involved with the installation and delivery of Aggreko´s solutions

* Broadcast equipment is heat sensitive and prone to overheating, reaching temperatures of 60 º C and thus significantly jeopardising the quality of broadcast. Aggreko is providing temperature control solutions that will maintain equipment at 22 º C, the threshold to ensure uninterrupted broadcast

* This temperature control solution will also provide climate control inside the IBC, ensuring broadcast crews’ comfort as they report on the World Cup action

* Aggreko is operating a comprehensive remote monitoring solution that provides real-time checks, diagnostic reporting and alerts, allowing for immediate action in the event of a potential glitch. The company is providing this technology in all 12 host cities

* Powered by Aggreko, the IBC will occupy three pavilions, a total space of 40,000 square metres. It will be operating 24/7 from mid-May

* The IBC will accommodate 86 networks from 41 countries, with hundreds of journalists

Written by Mark Bisson

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