As Saudi Arabia geared up to launch its new E-visa tourist scheme - allowing citizens from over 50 countries to travel to the Kingdom - it planned a spectacular show to celebrate the occasion.

The event would be held at the UNESCO World Heritage site, Ad Diriyah and would be attended by VIPs, journalists and influencers - broadcasted live on TV and online to millions of viewers.

The main exhibition would be installed with immersive 360° pods showcasing stunning sceneries from around the country using augmented reality along with live shows and acrobatics.

For this one-of-a-kind event, the customer needed an experienced and reliable partner who could take on the challenge. A global leader in power and cooling solutions - they turned to Aggreko for solution led expertise.

Located in a remote area with no grid supply, the site would need a complete microgrid to provide power to the entire area.

To provide a comfortable environment for visitors, temperatures inside the structures needed to be reduced to 23°C during summertime in Riyadh with ambient temperatures soaring to 40°C and above.

With the site containing multiple structures with different configurations a challenging task was to fit cooling units on the ceiling, 15m above ground level to provide cool air into the venue from above.

The final days before the event saw several LED screens being installed which added significant heat load inside the venue. Our engineering team would have to calculate exact sizes within the ducted solution to ensure enough cool air would enter the structure from the required height.