Australian Open Of Surfing – Event Power Generation And Air Conditioning

The Situation
​In July 2013 IMG Worldwide announced the return of the Australian Open Of Surfing to Manly Beach, Sydney.

The nine-day event attracted over 180,000 people to watch some of the world’s biggest names in surfing and experience two-days of free live music.

The event had some interesting elements that required the most reliable temporary power supply, distribution and air conditioning.  The event was:

• Broadcast live on TV and via webcast – power to the edit suite and satellite TV trucks could not fail
• Located on Manly Beach – there could be no environmental impact
• Located in a very small and very public area – accessibility was difficult and public inconvenience had to be kept to a minimum
• Power and air conditioning was required for the TV trucks, catering trucks, stage audio and lighting and numerous pop-up retail shops

The Solution
The Active Air Rentals team put together a plan that included:

• 11 x bunded generators ranging in size from 6.5kVA – 200kVA
• Power distribution
• 3 x 30kW packaged unit air conditioners

The install took a week and a half  due to the difficult access and need to minimise public inconvenience. The generators were craned over a 2m fence to TrakMats on the sand. Once in place, the power distribution was completed and the air conditioning installed. Refuelling was completed between 4am and 7am to further minimise disruption.

To ensure power wasn’t lost to the highly sensitive TV trucks or during the concerts all vital equipment was allocated two generators each, one as the main and the other as back up.

As with all events the look of the generators and air conditioners needed to be discrete. The generators were placed out of public sight and the air conditioning ducting grills were custom made to blend in with the pop-up retail decor.

The Outcome
The event went without a hitch. An Active Air technician was onsite but never required as all the equipment worked perfectly. 183,000 fans crowded Manly Beach for a week of exceptional surfing, skating and music all powered by Active Air Rentals.