Aggreko, the power behind any number of the UK’s biggest events, might not be the first company that comes to mind in the context of sustainability but, before too long, it could be.
Responding to 2019 analysis, the company ramped up development of an alternative energy source for its machines in the shape of Battery Storage Units.
Fully integrated, fuelled via solar energy or by generator sets running on biofuel, the batteries, or BSUs, are ‘plug and play’, slashing emissions and operating costs.
By way of example, tasked with powering the 32nd Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic, which took place at Emirates Golf Club in January 2022, Aggreko had to put its Battery Storage Units potential to the test. The tournament is committed to achieving GEO certification over the next three years.
One of a kind on the golf circuit, GEO is a comprehensive, modern accreditation committed to inspiring, recognising and rewarding demonstrable sustainability action across the game’s facilities and tournaments. Safe to say then, GEO standards are exacting.
Commissioned to provide energy for the entire site, including the Marshalls’ compound, the Entertainment Village, the Players’ Lounge, the European Tour office, screens on Hole 4 and the jumbo screen on the 18th green, and all the hospitality structures, reliability and sustainability were on a par for Aggreko.
To that end, the solution combined three different answers: its recently introduced solar panels, also known as Solar Gen, battery storage units and back-up gensets running on locally-sourced biofuel.
Providing equal measures of innovation and surety, the Dubai Golf Classic was the first time Aggreko brought, and linked, its green portfolio to a single job in the United Arab Emirates.
The sun shines for an average eights hours a day in Dubai but fitting the solar panels across a soft, uneven 92m space – the incline was nearly 2m – was less predictable. And the fact that Martin Nichol, Aggreko’s head of events for the Middle East, and his team achieved it, speaks volumes for the company’s capacity to deliver nil emission power.
“The solar panels, along with the battery units, performed exceptionally in Dubai,” Nichol
Said. “With the solar gen unit installed, the backup generator only ran for approximately eights hours across the whole tournament where otherwise we would have had at least
two diesel generators running 24/7.”
The weather might be a little less predictable in these not so fair isles, but the capacity to charge its Battery Store Units quickly via limited emission bio fuel generators means Aggreko will stay synonymous with powering Britain’s big events as it makes waves in sustainability.
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Author: Adam Parry
Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.
