TowerXchange recently caught up with Bahadir Celim, Managing Director of the genset manufacturer Gen Power to learn some background on their company and current projects. Established in 2000, Gen Power provides diesel gensets to the telecoms industry both for towers and data service stations in a bigger power range. They are active in multiple countries in the Middle East, as well as in India, Turkey, Russia, all of the Turkic Republics, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
TowerXchange: The first question our readers will want to know is ‘how proven is the solution in the field’ – please tell us about the performance of your solution in the field – who is using it and what results have been achieved?
Bahadir Celim, Managing Director, Gen Power:
This product and concept is very new in the genset industry. The idea of DC Variable Speed Diesel Generators was introduced about a year ago with the target of achieving substantial cost savings for the telecom tower industry. We have worked jointly for almost seven months with Le Roy Somer, Lombardini-Kohler and Comap to develop this product, and have tested the product for 400 hours in real tower conditions. We have achieved very good results, as demonstrated on our data sheets.
TowerXchange: What’s the sweet spot for your solutions in terms of grid availability and the load your solutions can support?
Bahadir Celim, Managing Director, Gen Power:
Our product provides Direct DC power at 12 KW+ through its alternator; because of this there is no need to convert AC to DC as there is in 95% of the gensets used in the tower industry today. Our product has a very low RIPPLE rate compared to other gensets, and we can confidently say that the fuel savings are in the 35-40% range compared to normal fixed speed AC Gensets.
TowerXchange: How has your solution been designed to maximise autonomy and minimise the number of site visits required?
Bahadir Celim, Managing Director, Gen Power:
The product can be operated fully on remote mode and connected via an internet bridge to a smart phone, tablet or computer depending on the end user’s preferences. Due to the variable speed operation concept, the fuel savings compared to fixed speed AC gensets (90 % of the market) is approximately 40%. Thanks to this a fuel tank with the same capacity can last almost twice the time and reduce the number of site visits required for re-fuelling by half. It also has a single lifting point and is a very compact size so it is easy to deliver and install.
TowerXchange: SLAs often demand 99.5% or higher uptime – tell us about the reliability and autonomy of your solution.
Bahadir Celim, Managing Director, Gen Power:
We work with world class equipment manufacturers; our engine, alternator, controller and other components are made by very well known, high quality brands. These are tested components that have proven to be reliable throughout the years.
TowerXchange: How is your solution scalable to accommodate the increasing power requirements as multiple tenants are added to a site?
Bahadir Celim, Managing Director, Gen Power:
As of now we have primarily worked towers that require 12 KW, which represents a big percentage of the towers used in the industry. Should there be a need to increase the power we can either install another one with the same power and synchronise it or replace it with a bigger genset.
TowerXchange: How has your solution been ‘hardened’ to protect against fuel and equipment theft?
Bahadir Celim, Managing Director, Gen Power:
Our fuel cap is locked and placed inside of the genset, the doors have sensors, and the unit also has a sensor so if it is lifted it will trigger an alarm. We can install a GPS in the set and as long as the controller is connected to the battery we can provide exact coordinates for it.
TowerXchange: What is the typical asset life cycle of your solutions and how can it be maximised?
Bahadir Celim, Managing Director, Gen Power:
The lifecycle of our generators is longer than the current standard fixed speed diesel generators due to the fact that ours work fewer hours. There is no data to prove it yet due to the technology being very new, but if we calculate the 40 % fuel saving, I estimate that a minimum 35% increase in life cycle would be accurate.
TowerXchange: What warranty and after sales support do you offer?
Bahadir Celim, Managing Director, Gen Power:
We have local agents that service the sets based on annual or multi-annual contracts in the countries that our sets are operating. We also have the full service support of the engine manufacturer and the alternator manufacturer. Our warranty is the same as the engine supplier’s, which is 12 months.
TowerXchange: Please sum up how you would differentiate your solution from your competitors’?
Bahadir Celim, Managing Director, Gen Power:
We use top quality branded components, and we have chosen one of the best and most proven engines with low fuel burn for the application. We have cooperated with one of the best alternator manufacturers in the world to obtain the best RIPPLE rate and greatest reliability. Also we have chosen to develop the best controllers with one of the best controller manufacturers.
We are manufacturing all of these components at the supply source country which gives us a competitive edge on price as well as many logistical advantages; this enables us to make on-time deliveries to customers.
Finally, our head office is in Singapore so we can also offer financial benefits to our customers, which we discuss on a case-by-case basis directly with our potential buyers.
