ATLANTA, GEORGIA (December 18, 2003) --- Rio de Janeiro's nightscape has become even more dazzling this holiday season, thanks to an 82-meter-tall Christmas tree that is floating in the middle of a lake, basked in a spectacular display of flashing lights.
Powered by equipment from GE Energy Rentals, the festive display at the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas is an annual tourist attraction for the South American city along the Atlantic Ocean. The "tree," a massive, metal-framed structure erected on pontoons, serves as a beacon to celebrate Christmas and remains "on" from November 29 to January 6.
Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas is located in Rio's southern zone, or Zona Sul, where most of Rio's hotels and popular beaches are located. Corcovado and Sugar Loaf (Pao de Acucar) mountains loom above the lake, which is connected to the nearby Atlantic by a narrow canal.
GE Energy Rentals is providing two megawatts of temporary power service for lighting the tree and various music festivals at the lake, which is named in honor of a nobleman who acquired a sugarcane mill in the region at the end of the 16th century.
Rio first began marking its summer holiday season with the floating tree in 1996. In each subsequent year, organizers have made the tree even bigger and brighter. This year's version weighs 410 tons, 60 more than last year. Rio's skyline is lit up by 2.8 million microlamps, 1,800 neon lamps, 26,000 meters of shining cable and eight mobile, 7,000 watt "light cannons,".
The theme of this year's brilliant symphony of lights is "angels and music notes."
The tree is supported on the water by 11 pontoons that are eight meters long and weigh a combined 18 tons. Nearly 1,300 people were involved with erecting this year's tree, a project that began in September. A technician from GE Energy Rentals is on site to make sure the tree stays "on" for the entire holiday season.
In its seven-year history, the floating tree has captured the attention of not only tourists but of the Guinness Book of World Records. In 1999, the publication acknowledged the dazzling tower as the world's largest Christmas ornament - not a tree - since it is actually just a massive metal skeleton wrapped in lights and wires.
GE Energy Rentals, based in Atlanta, Georgia, was formed by GE Power Systems in June 1999 to offer rental equipment for temporary distributed power and climate control applications in the commercial, industrial, utility, oil and gas and special events industries.
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