Crestchic Load Banks Help Wembley Stadium To Limber Up For Euro 2020
Wembley Stadium plays host to some of the biggest events in sport and music, attracting in excess of 2 million visitors every year. With Euro 2020 fast approaching. the world-class stadium is gearing up to host one of football’s biggest championships. With the eyes of the world on the venue - as well as the ball - preparedness is key.
The giant 4,000,000m3 stadium is home to 47 retail units, 26 lifts, 30 escalators, 34 bars, 8 restaurants, 688 food and drink points, not to mention two towering display screens equivalent to 600 domestic television sets. As the 90,000 seats fill with spectators eagerly awaiting the kick-off of Euro 2020, it is absolutely crucial, to ensure that these facilities function without fault. When failure isn’t an option or loss of power business-critical, back-up power sources must be regularly tested to ensure they will operate effectively when required.
Richard Parry at Puma Power Projects Limited commented “We work directly with Engie, Facilities Management contractor at Wembley, to ensure their back-up generators will start in the event of a total power failure at the venue. As part of this agreement and to ensure that the generators operate efficiently, we called on the services of Crestchic to supply the load banks used to fully test the generators”.
Whilst generators are known for being a robust and reliable backup power source, they are far from infallible. Like any other internal combustion engine, lubrication, cooling systems, fuel system and electrics, all need to be tested to ensure faultless operation. To do this, a load bank is used to imitate the operational or ‘real’ load that a generator would need to handle if the venue experienced a power loss.
Paul Brickman, Sales and Marketing Director at Crestchic, explains “For the hospitality industry - especially a venue which handles some of the highest-profile events in the world - electricity is vital to delivering a good customer experience. Non-functioning lifts, lack of food and drink or turnstiles that won’t admit eager visitors would cause chaos for a venue like Wembley. To mitigate this risk, back-up generators need to be fully tested under the kind of load that they would be likely to experience if the venue had a power cut. Only then can the venue be truly confident that their back-up power would kick in when needed.”
