How temporary power keeps events running smoothly
The role of additional power for events
So, what event power solutions are on offer, and do you really need them? Get the facts on why additional power is indispensable to ensuring your event's success.
Why Additional Power is Essential for Events
Additional power augments the venue’s mains supply or provides the primary supply where grid capacity is limited. For stadiums, festivals and televised events, this ensures there is enough capacity, quality and resilience to run every element without interruption.
- Uninterrupted delivery at peak demand: Temporary generation and battery storage cover diversity and peaks from sound, lighting, LED walls, broadcast, refrigeration, catering and site services.
- Dedicated feeds for critical systems: Separate, correctly sized feeds for stage power, broadcast trucks, ticketing, fencing lighting and emergency systems minimise risk of nuisance trips.
- Power quality and equipment protection: Voltage and frequency control, harmonic filtering and inrush management protect sensitive AV, lighting and IT equipment.
- Compliance and site logistics: Noise limits, fuel management, spill control, cable management and permitting are planned into the temporary power overlay to meet organiser and authority requirements.
Without sufficient power, an event risks disruption, financial losses, reputational damage, and the safety and wellbeing of attendees.
Types of Event Power Supply
Just as every event is unique, so are the energy requirements, making the choice of generator a critical decision. Here are the primary types of event power supplies and the events they're most suited to.
- Diesel Generators: Robust and efficient, ideal for large-scale, continuous power demands. Designed for rapid deployment and easy transport, suitable for events of any size, remote locations, or any scenario requiring flexible power distribution like pop-up markets or temporary stages.
- Solar Power: Portable solar arrays help offset daytime loads and support sustainability targets. Best for vendor villages, silent zones and daytime operations. Solar output is variable, so it is typically paired with BESS and/or generators for night-time and peak demand.
- Battery Energy Storage: Provide silent power, peak-shaving and load-smoothing, improving power quality for sensitive AV and broadcast equipment. BESS stores energy from generators and solar, enables smaller generator sets, reduces fuel burn and noise
Aggreko offers a comprehensive range of power generators for hire, designed to deliver dependable power for your events. Explore our rental fleet and contact our power generation specialists to learn more.
Planning for Power Needs at Large-Scale Events
Here's how Aggreko ensures the success of your event, with careful planning, precise calculations, and tailored event power solutions.
- Expert Assessment: Aggreko's engineering team conducts in-depth site assessments, analysing everything from audience size to each piece of equipment.
- Precise Load Calculation: Power needs are meticulously calculated, considering peak demands and redundancy, to accurately size additional power and temporary energy systems, avoiding costly disruptions or inefficiencies.
- Engineering for Challenges: We provide tailored solutions for complex venues, carefully fitting equipment into tight spaces or extending power to remote locations with specialised cabling.
- Flexible Partnership: As your events evolve, Aggreko adapts quickly, ensuring your event power solutions remain aligned with your vision from start to finish.
Don't jeopardise your event by leaving power to chance. Choose Aggreko for reliable, world-class energy management. Explore our dedicated event power solutions to learn more.
Get the power to run your event smoothly
For event organisers, a "one-size-fits-all" approach to power simply doesn't work, making customised temporary energy systems essential for flawless execution. Aggreko’s expertise lies in designing bespoke solutions that adapt precisely to your event's unique demands.
- Tailored to Your Vision: Aggreko engineers assess every event detail to design precision-tailored solutions, integrating the optimal mix of additional power generators, hybrid power units, and battery energy storage systems.
- Flexibility & Scalability: Our modular temporary energy solutions are designed for agility, allowing power to be scaled instantly for any event size, from compact mobile units to multi-megawatt festival setups.
- Adaptable for Growth & Tours: This flexibility ensures seamless adjustments as your event grows, expands, or embarks on multi-city tours, guaranteeing consistent, reliable power across varied locations and evolving requirements.
Beyond just providing power, temporary energy solutions deliver significant advantages for your events. They address many common logistical and operational challenges, ensuring your event runs without a hitch.
- Unmatched Flexibility: These systems adapt to any event size, type, or location, allowing for precise configuration and reconfiguration as needs evolve.
- Guaranteed Reliability: Built with redundancy and expert engineering, temporary power ensures a stable supply, safeguarding equipment and maintaining operations.
- Rapid Deployment: The modular nature of these solutions allows for swift setup, invaluable for tight schedules or remote locations lacking infrastructure.
- Seamless Scalability: Systems effortlessly scale up or down as requirements change, ensuring you only pay for the power needed while always having capacity for growth.
- Operational Excellence: By providing a robust, adaptable backbone, these systems enable smooth running of all event components, ensuring a flawless experience for everyone.
For a deeper dive into how these advantages can benefit your next event, explore Aggreko's temporary power systems.
HVAC solutions: ensuring comfort and climate control at events
HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) solutions offer precise control of temperature, air quality, and humidity, regardless of the weather.
The importance of HVAC systems for event comfort
Sweltering temperatures can quickly spoil any event. Fortunately, Aggreko offers advanced HVAC solutions to ensure the comfort of your attendees and protection for sensitive equipment.
- Optimal Attendee Comfort: HVAC precisely regulates temperatures and humidity, ensuring guests remain comfortable regardless of external conditions.
- Adaptability to All Climates: Aggreko's temperature control equipment (AC, heaters, chillers, dehumidifiers) ensures climate control in any environment.
- Protection for Sensitive Assets: Stable temperatures are vital for safeguarding expensive technical equipment and delicate event components from damage.
- Customised Solutions: Aggreko offers bespoke, modular, low-noise HVAC systems with expert design, swift deployment, and continuous monitoring.
Typical use cases:
- Large tents and marquees: Chiller plus air handler units with ducted supply and return, zoned for front-of-house and backstage.
- Circus tents and big tops: Low-noise air handlers and dehumidification to manage condensation and audience comfort.
- Temporary structures without HVAC: Ticketing, medical, green rooms and catering areas using packaged AC or heaters for quick installation.
For more details on how to create the ideal climate for your next show, explore Aggreko's HVAC solutions.
How temporary HVAC units support events
Beyond simply controlling temperature, temporary HVAC units from Aggreko, including air conditioning units, heating solutions, chillers, and dehumidifiers, are carefully deployed to create the perfect atmosphere for any event. These systems are precisely scaled for everything from small-scale indoor gatherings to major outdoor festivals, ensuring comfort for attendees and operational support for specific environments like film sets or ice rinks.
Managing event climate in challenging conditions
Managing events in extreme conditions, from scorching heatwaves to freezing temperatures, is key to attendee comfort and safety. This is where Aggreko's experience really shines. Our specialists conduct thorough pre-event site assessments to accurately determine precise HVAC solutions. This level of planning ensures optimal environmental control, and a comfortable atmosphere is guaranteed, no matter the forecast.
Case studies: successful events powered by Aggreko
Partnering with a power provider that genuinely understands events means the difference between seamless success and costly catastrophes. Here's how Aggreko backs event planners, with decades of global expertise and end-to-end support.
Large-scale events
Picture high-performance F50 catamarans racing on Sydney Harbour while a temporary power overlay keeps broadcast, operations and spectator areas running to plan. The organisers wanted world-class reliability with a smaller carbon footprint.
- The Challenge: Reduce event CO₂ without compromising performance, aligning with SailGP’s ambition to be a purpose-driven, sustainable global sports platform. The Sydney round required a dependable, large-scale power solution that could meet demanding site and broadcast loads while cutting emissions.
- Aggreko's Solution: For the first time at SailGP, Aggreko powered the event using Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) in place of standard diesel. Across the event we generated 22,770 kWh using 9,141 litres of HVO, delivering an efficiency of 0.4 L/kWh and demonstrating how cleaner fuels can support major events at scale.
- The Result: An estimated 23,533 kg CO₂e reduction versus conventional diesel, setting a new benchmark for sustainable power at a flagship AUSPAC event and showing organisers how emissions goals can be met without sacrificing reliability.
Unique event requirements
Imagine bringing a vibrant music festival to life in the spectacular NSW outback. The Mundi Mundi Bash wasn't just a concert; it was a pioneering event relying entirely on self-sufficient power in one of Australia's most remote landscapes.
- The Challenge: Powering a brand-new, large-scale music festival in the middle of nowhere presented immense logistical hurdles. With no existing grid connection, the organisers needed a rock-solid guarantee that not a single power outage would disrupt the event.
- Aggreko's Solution: We stepped in with a complete power generation and distribution solution. Our experts redesigned the entire power overlay to perfectly fit the new site, providing a fleet of canopy generator sets (including 8 x 125kVA, 2 x 30kVA, and 1 x 600kVA units). To ensure flawless delivery, our global events team collaborated with local depots, preparing equipment, and driving it across vast distances to oversee installation, the live show, and teardown.
- The Result: The festival was a resounding success, creating an incredible buzz and boosting tourism for the Australian outback. Our "rock star" energy management so impressed the organisers that they signed a multi-year contract, proving that even in the most remote corners of the world, Aggreko delivers the goods.