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A few weeks later, Metin and his father arrive for the meeting and are whisked away to a conference room on the sixth floor of Building #37. There, they sit down with Browning and his heads of finance, marketing, and manufacturing. Browning starts to tell his visitors that the building was constructed years ago and is a significant landmark in Schenectady. Not one for small talk, Metin’s father stops the tale halfway through. The younger Metin, filling the awkward silence, mentions that he lived in the United States when he attended Carnegie Mellon University.

“So did I!” exclaims Browning.

“When you’re at that early stage in a deal and realize you’ve got that kind of personal connection, it actually makes a big difference,” he says. “You go from being newly introduced strangers to people who share a common past. I honestly think it helped us take the next steps.”

And those steps begin a marathon—from the early concept and technology development to financing the project valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. “When you’re doing a large, strategic deal, there are all sorts of things that can go sideways on you,” Browning notes. During the next several months, dozens of meetings take place. Browning makes five trips to Istanbul. When sticking points arise, Browning and Metin huddle privately and come back with solutions, earning themselves the nickname “Carnegie Mafia.” When the final “king of contracts” is finished, it’s a whopping 7,900 pages and sits 2 feet high.

The 530-megawatt plant is expected to be operational by 2015 and combine the use of natural gas, solar, and wind energy. With renewable integration, they estimate an efficiency of 69%, approximately 20% better than the best existing facility, which in annual CO2 emissions equates to taking 12,000 cars off the road. It’s a tremendous achievement in an industry that pours hundreds of millions of dollars to chase an extra percentage point in efficiency. Metin is proud to report that the project is also “financially strong. There are a lot of good ideas around the world,” he says, “but if they’re not financially sound, they’re just good ideas.”

GE and MetCap announce the deal in June 2011. Within two weeks, they give more than 100 interviews to worldwide media. Metin understands the interest. “This is working for a better world,” he says. “We have to take charge of our future. I have two sons. One is a year old, the other is nine. What are we going to leave for them?”?

Melissa Silmore (TPR’85) is a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to this magazine.

Photo Credit:  Ali Kabas

Related Links:
GE Wins First Solar-Gas Hybrid Plant From Turkey's MetCap
MetCap Announces Expansion of the World's First Integrated Renewables Combind-Cycle Plant Powered by GE Technology

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