Brazil is counting on German multinational engineering and electronics company Siemens to provide key infrastructure solutions for the upcoming sporting events in that country.

Brazil has hosted the Confederations Cup, and will also host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, in Rio de Janeiro.

Siemens has received orders for about €1-billion for infrastructure projects in the run-up to these sports events.

“These major sporting events will turn the spotlight on Brazil. We are looking forward to exciting games, powerful emotions and people visiting our country. Whether it be transportation, energy supply, the environment, healthcare, safety or security – we want our infrastructure solutions to help make the events a success.

“The solutions we are providing will improve the quality of life in Brazil for generations to come and support the country’s long-term economic development. Brazil is at a turning point in its economic development and these major events will accelerate infrastructure development, laying the foundations for sustainable growth,” says Siemens Brazil CEO Paulo Stark.

Major sporting events are a catalyst for investment in the infrastructure of the host country. Only 10% to 20% of this investment is used for event-specific installations, such as stadiums, while 80% to 90 % is used for urban and countrywide infrastructure, for example, new streets, traffic-management systems, airports, metro stations, safety and security systems, housing, hotels, sports facilities and even new power plants.

Sustainability, efficiency and environmental impact are currently also important selection criteria when planning infrastructure investments.

Siemens is providing advanced safety, security and building systems for the Mane Garrincha national stadium – the venue for the Confederations Cup opener and for seven 2014 FIFA World Cup games. Equipped with energy efficient building-technology solutions from Siemens, Mane Garrincha is the world’s first stadium to aim for leadership in energy and environmental design platinum – the top category of the international standard for ecofriendly construction.

In Manaus, the capital city of the state of Amazonas and one of the cities hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Siemens and its partners are building the UTE Mauá 3 combined-cycle power plant. The facility will help meet the region’s rapidly growing energy requirements, while increasing the stability of its power supply system. With an installed capacity of about 580 MW, the UTE Mauá 3 will be one of the region’s largest gas-fired power plants and will replace a large number of diesel generators, which have a negative environmental impact, owing to their low energy efficiency and high levels of carbon dioxide emissions.

At the country’s largest airport, Guarulhos International Airport, in São Paulo, Siemens is installing energy supply solutions for the new TPS3 passenger terminal. The airport’s capacity is being expanded to handle increased passenger volumes in 2014, as about 40-million people are expected to pass through the airport next year, compared with about three-million people in 2012.

To help meet the airport’s energy requirements, Siemens is providing medium- and low-voltage systems and a transformer that will link the new transformer station with the airport’s existing power grid.
In the last century, Siemens played a key role in Brazil’s modernisation, as half of the country’s energy is generated with the help of products and solutions from Siemens.

The company has supplied about one-third of all the imaging devices in use in Brazil’s healthcare system. Having opened nine new factories and having created 4 000 jobs in the last ten years, Siemens Brazil plans to further increase its presence and its investment in local value creation.