Aggreko Expands Canada Operations in Global Power Rental Industry Reach

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Aggreko plc (LSE:AGK) (Glasgow, Scotland) is in the business of renting out power generation systems, oil-free air compression systems, and temperature control systems. This global leader has a presence in 29 countries and offers round-the-clock service in all of them. In August 2008, Aggreko acquired all of the assets of the high-profile Power Plus Rental and Sales (Leduc, Alberta), successfully strengthening its presence in Canada. Power Plus provided rental power solutions to business ventures in the world's second largest oil reserve at the Athabasca Oil Sands in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The acquisition gave Aggreko access to experience and skills in designing and running equipment in very cold conditions as well as working in very remote sites. It also gave Aggreko the ability to better its service to its gas and oil refining customers. The acquisition was with a part of Aggreko's growth strategy in western Canada.

In the same month, Aggreko played a critical role in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. The company supplied power to both the International Broadcast Center and the National Stadium during the ceremony. The Broadcast Center transmitted the ceremony to approximately 4 billion viewers globally and the 100,000 comprising the stadium audience. Aggreko also supplied 140 MW of power to the 37 Olympic venues distributed across the three cities of Beijing, Hong Kong and Qingdao. Power was supplied using 470 kilometers of cable and 2,000 distribution panels. It was enough to power 150,000 average homes.

Aggreko has been providing NASCAR's Daytona 500 with temperature control and large-scale power distribution infrastructure for the last 10 years. An event such as the Daytona 500 requires 3.6 megawatts (MW) of power. Installation of the equipment for the February 2008 event took 19 days while dismantling it required another six days. Aggreko has been the supplier of power and temperature control equipment at events such as the Ryder Cup, the U.S. Open and the Super Bowl. Aggreko was also hired to provide its services at the three recent U.S. presidential debates.

The company has already been signed on to help power the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2010. The company will provide temporary power and temperature control infrastructure at all of the venues, including the BC Place Stadium where the opening and closing ceremonies will be held. Aggreko will supply and maintain a package of at least 34 MW of generators and power distribution, 31 MW of electric heat, miles of cable and a crew of about 100 to install and operate the equipment.

Aggreko has the capacity to provide power at both the site level, which requires small, transitory power, as well as at the regional power grid level, which requires baseload-scale megawatt power. Their services include power for planned projects, emergency outages, or just handling a surge in requirement.

Aggreko generators range in size from 0.03 MW to 2 MW. The company has developed a wide range of specialized generator rentals to meet specific customer requirements. The GreenPower generator rental ranges from 0.03 MW to 0.5 MW. It has incorporated new developments in spill containment, emissions and silencing. The TwinPack uninterruptible generator rental is a combination generator and it synchronizes two generators to supply fully redundant backup power that remains online at all times. Load sharing and unique synchronizing capabilities are offered by the container generator rental, which is available in sizes from 0.5 MW to 2 MW. Movie sets use Aggreko's HushPower generator rental, which are best known for their low noise levels.

Aggreko recently won an award for the "Best Fast-Track Power Project in Asia" for a 40-MW rental power package at the 132-kilovolt Goal Para substation in Khulna, Bangladesh. The site environment for the project was difficult, being completely waterlogged at the start of the project. Aggreko flew in special membranes from Europe to assist in controlling ground water levels and then compacted the soil in order to improve the strength of the base and achieve load-bearing capacity for the power package. Site preparations were completed in 31 days using the company's worldwide network of depots.

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