Paul Browning鈥檚 mother stands at his bedroom doorway; she isn鈥檛 happy. Her 12-year-old has taken apart a television. Worse, he鈥檚 harvested the high-voltage transformer and rigged it to spark. There he is, ski gloves on, trying to light a pencil. Fortunately, his latest experiment doesn鈥檛 set the house on fire. His parents just don鈥檛 understand their son鈥檚 tinkering interest. Dad is an artist, which may explain the creativity. Maybe it鈥檚 Grandpa鈥檚 mechanical bent?
Wherever it comes from, it doesn鈥檛 fade, no matter the punishment for experiments gone awry. When he is ready for college, his inquisitiveness makes engineering schools very appealing, and Carnegie Mellon is top choice. He happens to be a standout football player, and it doesn鈥檛 hurt his chances that the Tartans coaches have their eyes on him. They invite him to campus during Spring Carnival weekend and have him bunk with a player in a fraternity. 鈥淭hat pretty much sold me,鈥� Browning laughs, keeping mum on the details.
Kerem Metin is born seven years after Browning, in a time zone seven hours ahead, in Istanbul, Turkey. He moves to Jakarta with his family as a teen and, like Browning, shares a love for math and science. His interests, though, are clearly inherited. Metin鈥檚 father holds a PhD in chemical engineering and is a successful entrepreneur. Metin is also athletic. He plays football, like Browning鈥攋ust a different kind; he is a soccer star, taking after his grandfather who was captain of the Turkish national team. Unfortunately, the elder Metin鈥檚 career came to an abrupt end at age 29, when he broke his leg during a game. A lesson for the younger Metin鈥攁cademics before athletics.
Browning begins college life in 1985 as an major but moves on to metallurgical engineering and . 鈥淚 like to be able to see and touch things, and materials science just felt more real. Besides,鈥� he adds with a smile, 鈥渕y roommate was a materials science major, and he seemed to be having more fun.鈥�
Browning meets Roy Guy during freshman football camp. The two become buddies. Within a year, both come to the same conclusion (and the same one arrived at by Metin): academics before athletics. They drop football, owing to what seemed to be all-encompassing demands on their time. They remain members of Beta Theta Pi and its buggy team, which they chair every year.
One year, the boys pick composite material for their contraption鈥攁 stronger, lighter body that will give their buggy an edge. Ingenious, except that they have neither the material nor the money. But Browning somehow locates a professor at the University of Delaware who will get them what they need. 鈥淗ow Paul managed to do this, I have no idea,鈥� recalls Guy (AM鈥�89), now a math teacher in Ohio. They drive out in the dead of winter, work on creating the buggy throughout the weekend, and bring it back to campus in their 1970 Oldsmobile convertible that has no rear window. Needless to say, it鈥檚 a chilly ride. It鈥檚 also a sign of Browning鈥檚 managerial talent鈥攐vercoming daunting obstacles.
A few years after Browning鈥檚 1990 graduation, a freshman arrives on the Pittsburgh campus. Metin wanted to go to college at an American university, and he received offers to play Division I soccer, but he made an 鈥渁cademics before athletics鈥� choice. Not that he didn鈥檛 have some doubts. 鈥淢y parents dropped me in front of the dorm with my three suitcases. I remember it like it was yesterday鈥攖he taillights of that rented Volvo driving down the street and then carrying my three suitcases. It was an incredible shock.鈥�
Certainly one individual is thrilled to see him. But to the soccer coach鈥檚 dismay, Metin (like Browning) opts out of the time-consuming sport during freshman year. He, too, remains a member of his fraternity, Phi Kappa Alpha. 鈥淭here was a great group of people. I grew up on my own at 麻豆村. They made it very easy.鈥� Metin begins in mechanical engineering but also moves to another major鈥攊ndustrial management with a concentration in finance and engineering. 鈥淚 always wanted to do something that combined engineering and industry because it allows you to play God for a minute,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou can play with the densities and temperatures and pressures and create something. That is truly something great. And,鈥� he laughs, 鈥渋f you can make money out of this, it鈥檚 even better!鈥�
While Metin is earning his degree, Browning is climbing the corporate ladder. He spends eight years working in , a self-described 鈥渓ab rat.鈥� He learns about everything from light bulbs to washing machines but spends most of his time on energy products. Lured by a gas turbine division at , he leaves GE to work for Caterpillar in a variety of leadership roles that transfer him and his wife (Janel Koca Browning E鈥�93) to various locations around the world鈥擬exico, Belgium, and Germany, as well as the United States. In 2010, GE asks Browning to return. The lab rat is now president and CEO of the Thermal Products division, a $7.5 billion company in itself with more than 10,000 employees and with customers in 140 countries. He has come a long way from trying to light a pencil with a TV part.
Metin, meanwhile, earns his industrial management degree in 1997 and starts his own climb up the corporate ladder. He begins his career with rather than joining his father in business. He knows he has to 鈥渇irst prove my worth to the family and the market.鈥� After three years in Atlanta, Ga., Metin joins a Turkish firm and hones his global skills as an export coordinator in Istanbul. He next spends 14 months as a defense contractor in Iraq, supplying telephone and Internet service, and receives an excellence of service medal from the 101st Airborne brigade. True to his family鈥檚 entrepreneurial roots, he then founds a market analysis firm, PR Net, the first Turkish company to export software to the United States. When his company is acquired in February 2010, it鈥檚 clear he is more than worthy. He takes his place with his father at , a private equity firm with projects in varied industries鈥攑rimarily agriculture and energy.
In scouting a new energy project, the Metins locate property in Karaman, Turkey, an area with strong energy demand and readily available natural gas. The site also has Turkey鈥檚 highest solar irradiation levels and excellent wind, ideal for environmentally friendly, subsidized energy production. As developers, they plan to move the project to the point of execution then sell to a larger entity, such as a utility. Father and son make the land purchase.
Fortuitously, in the spring of 2010, Metin and his father are invited to attend an exclusive presentation. GE has developed a revolutionary new technology for natural gas power generation and is eager to share it with select customers.
During the previous decade, there has been a huge change in the energy industry鈥攖he introduction of cost-effective renewable power sources鈥攑rincipally wind, with solar also becoming more viable. By definition, these sources are intermittent, available only when the sun shines or the wind blows. But we expect light when we hit a switch, so traditional sources like coal and natural gas must fill the gaps. Fortunately, natural gas power plants can cycle on and off in response. GE noticed many of its customers doing just that with increasing frequency. The problem is that ramping up and down decreases efficiency鈥攐r the percentage of burned fuel actually converted to usable energy. And as more fossil fuel is burned, the increased CO2 emissions cancel out the benefits of increased renewables.
In response, GE borrowed technology from its aircraft division, technology that allows a jet engine to rapidly shift from tarmac idle to full thrust for takeoff, both quickly and efficiently. They developed a power plant, a breakthrough they trademarked as . Its efficiency is unprecedented; it will ramp up at a rate of more than 50 megawatts per minute, twice the rate of today鈥檚 industry benchmarks.
Browning enthusiastically makes plans to unveil the product to potential developers: 鈥淗ey look, the world鈥檚 got some big energy challenges. I鈥檓 running one of the world鈥檚 biggest energy franchises and one of the people who has an opportunity to make a difference. It鈥檚 a big part of why I come to work every day.鈥� Metin and his father travel to GE鈥檚 shiny new Belfort, France, Technology Center for the presentation. They enter the meeting room with more than 100 others. Browning takes the stage. Everyone is keenly aware of energy issues that include cost, resource availability, environmental impact, and financial caveats. For example, natural gas is cleaner than coal, and environmentally conscious countries like Turkey offer incentives for the use of renewables.
Browning presents. The Metins are intrigued by FlexEfficiency 50 because they鈥檙e looking for a power plant facility that integrates all three sources鈥攏atural gas, solar, and wind. It seems FlexEfficiency 50 may be the answer. Browning chats with them after his presentation and is equally intrigued. He has seen solar energy integrated into a natural gas power plant but never with the capabilities of his product. And natural gas, solar, and wind combined? It has never been done. The three men agree to continue the conversation in greater detail by scheduling a meeting at GE鈥檚 headquarters in Schenectady, N.Y.
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鈥檚 father stops the tale halfway through. The younger Metin, filling the awkward silence, mentions that he lived in the United States when he attended 麻豆村.
鈥淪o did I!鈥� exclaims Browning.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e at that early stage in a deal and realize you鈥檝e got that kind of personal connection, it actually makes a big difference,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou go from being newly introduced strangers to people who share a common past. I honestly think it helped us take the next steps.鈥�
And those steps begin a marathon鈥攆rom the early concept and technology development to financing the project valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e doing a large, strategic deal, there are all sorts of things that can go sideways on you,鈥� 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 鈥淐arnegie Mafia.鈥� When the final 鈥渒ing of contracts鈥� is finished, it鈥檚 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鈥檚 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 鈥渇inancially strong. There are a lot of good ideas around the world,鈥� he says, 鈥渂ut if they鈥檙e not financially sound, they鈥檙e just good ideas.鈥�
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. 鈥淭his is working for a better world,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e 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?鈥�?
Melissa Silmore (TPR鈥�85) is a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to this magazine.
Photo Credit:听 Ali Kabas
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