Perkins and Teksan: Thirty years of success starting on day one.

In the three decades since the late Abdulkadir Teksan and Özdemir Ata came together to establish a new company in Tuzla, Istanbul the product of their vision has grown to become an international powerhouse in the global power generation industry. Today, Teksan, services customers in more than 140 countries on six continents.

With 60,000 m² of manufacturing space located in Istanbul and Kocaeli, Turkey, Teksan can produce more than 15,000 generator sets annually. From the very beginning, many of those generator sets have been powered by Perkins engines, as Perkins President, Steve Ferguson noted during a recent visit marking the 30^th anniversary of Perkins relationship with Teksan.

Nearly 25,000 engines later

Accompanied by Perkins vice presidents Jaz Gill and David Goldspink, Mr. Ferguson and the delegation were hosted by Teksan's Chairman of the Board, Özdemir Ata, Member of the Board Burak Başeğmezler, and CEO Dr Oğuz Can. During their conversation, Mr. Ata said that the very first generator set built by Teksan was powered by a Perkins engine and it was, in fact, on display in the factory.

“It holds great sentimental value for us,” he said. “Looking back at the past 30 years, we have a truly proud story.”

That story includes more than 20,000 generator sets powered by Perkins^® 1100 Series, 2,500 powered by Perkins^® 4000 Series and many others powered by a variety of other Perkins engines. Among them are units providing main and stand-by power for some of the world’s most critical installations including hospitals, data centres, airports, hotels, shopping malls, industrial plants, oilfields, mines, office buildings, residential neighbourhoods and rental properties.

Teksan’s support for a major expansion of Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oilfield provides an excellent example of the benefits of their 30 year collaboration with Perkins.

Powering the world’s deepest oil field

Tengiz is the world’s deepest and sixth largest oilfield. By any measure, Tengiz is huge, spread over 2,500 km² on the north-eastern shore of the Caspian Sea it holds an estimated 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil. It’s also very remote, more than 1,600 km from the capital, Astana, in an area with little or no conventional infrastructure where temperatures can vary from 40° C in the summer to -40° C in the winter.

Nevertheless, the critical control rooms, wellhead safety systems and services needed to feed, house and support thousands of workers all depend on a reliable source of electric power. Moreover, a recent multi-billion-dollar expansion project to more than double the number of wells in operation at Tengiz required a significant power generation upgrade

Teksan was chosen to provide the solution. As Teksan deputy general manager, Deniz Ar explained: “We’ve grown something of a reputation for providing power solutions to national and international engineering and technology projects. Our products are specified because they’re known to work seamlessly under all conditions.”

Only six months after the order was placed, Teksan had designed, built and shipped 33 1400 kVA; three 560 kVA; four 167 kVA; one 114 kVA; and seven 67 kVA generator sets to Tengiz. All are powered by Perkins^® 4012-46TWG2A engines which provide reliability, fuel eﬃciency and perform in harsh conditions and extremes of climate.

The container canopied generator sets feature a range of options including a standard 8-hour daily fuel tank and 16-hour, double-walled fuel tanks placed separately within the container to allow up to 24 hours of non-stop operation.

In explaining the part Perkins played in Teksan’s success at Tengiz, Deniz Ar said: “Perkins strong support and aftersales service provide a good match for Teksan’s values. It’s all about delivering added value, focusing on customers’ needs, and creating a difference in every project.”

Teksan has built a global reputation for reliable performance in extreme environments, but even when grid power is available, their systems provide peace of mind for important projects.

Reliable power for a spectacular airport

Built in the shape of a flying falcon, the $2.3 billion terminal at Ashgabat International Airport, in Turkmenistan is a spectacular example of modern design. It’s also the centrepiece of a huge infrastructure project covering 350,000 m² with 266 buildings including a VIP terminal, an air traffic control tower, covered passenger car parks, a cargo terminal and multiple warehouses.

All of them require reliable electric power to operate. To ensure continuous passenger and cargo operations, airport managers wanted to have sufficient standby power installed in case grid power failed. This was a concern, even though the country’s power grid recently had been modernised.

To meet the need, Teksan built and delivered 36 Perkins-powered generator sets fitted with 6-, 8- and 12-cylinder variants of Perkins® 4000, 1100, 2200 and 2500 Series engines. The generator sets provide automatic standby power with some units synchronised to ensure sufficient volumes of power are available whenever they’re needed.

Three decades of collaborative success

These projects, and hundreds more, are examples of the power of three decades of collaboration by Perkins and Teksan. Mr. Ferguson summed up that success while presenting a plaque commemorating the relationship.

He said: “It is truly meaningful for us to witness Teksan’s success during this special period as they celebrate their 30th anniversary and to have contributed to this success as Perkins. In the electric power sector, Teksan is one of Perkins’ longest customer relationships, and I’m sure will continue to achieve even greater things in the future. Our collaborative relationship will continue to focus on the customer, particularly in the areas of energy transformation, sustainable development, and innovative products.”