GAMA Endüstri has signed a contract for a 50,000 tons/year capacity Maleic Anhydrite Production Facility with petrochemical company TN MaleikPetrokimya A.Ş. on June 15, 2022.
GAMA Endüstri has undertaken responsibility as the Contractor of Detail Project Engineering and Procurement Engineering of Maleic Anhydrite Production Facility Project with a capacity of 50,000 tons/year which was planned by petrochemical company TN Maleik Petrokimya A.Ş. as direct foreign investment in Dilovasi GEBKIM, and it has signed a contract with TN Maleik Petrokimya A.Ş. on June 15, 2022. GAMA Endüstri will act as the Contractor for Detail Project Engineering and Procurement Engineering of the facility, where the project work will start in June 2022, and the construction and assembly work is targeted to start in 2022.
Ahmet Ligvani, Managing Director at GAMA Power Systems Engineering and Contracting, Inc., said, “we have achieved many ‘firsts’ as a 63 year old brand active in the sector. Thanks to the confidence which we have gained through our international experience, we want to establish long term cooperation with foreign investors who desire to invest in Türkiye and contribute to Turkish economy and also increase our international competitiveness by taking part in many projects like this and working in harmony with our customers.”
When 50,000 tons/year capacity Maleic Anhydrite Facility, which is planned by Maleik Anhidrit Üretim A.Ş. as an important production base, commences operations, the target will be to decrease Türkiye’s dependence on crude material and prevent an export of $100 million, and contribute to narrowing current account deficit with the crude material which will be produced in Türkiye for the first time with a nearly 150 million dollar direct investment, and strengthen Türkiye’s export and competitiveness in international markets.
The RADES-C Combined Cycle Power Plant in Tunisia, which is under construction by GAMA Power Systems, passed to the “Commercial Operation” phase on June 26, 2022, and the only main milestone of the project, the “Final Acceptance Certificate”, is planned to be received on November 15, 2022. Our project, which also received the cod certificate proving that the power plant was put into commercial operation, reached 7.6 million man-hours on August 31, 2022, without a lost day accident on 1.840 days.
As GAMA, we paid a visit to Anıtkabir on Monday, October 24, 2022, to express our gratitude to our Great Leader Atatürk on the 99th anniversary of the proclamation of our Republic. After the ceremony where we went before our father and left flowers in the mausoleum, Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Holding and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Enerji Ömer Tunçata signed the Anıtkabir Special Book. In his letter to Anıtkabir Special Book on behalf of GAMA employees, Tunçata noted the following:
“Father, in the light of your leading goals, which are based on universal principles and our national values and enlighten our future, we have walked the path you have opened with increasing perseverance every day and today we stand before you with the pride of our achievements. We promise to carry these devoted works into the future, and we offer our respect, love, and aspirations with this feeling and belief.”
GAMA Enerji Board Member and General Manager Tamer Çalışır: “We undertook the first bot power plant construction in Türkiye as GAMA Group. As GAMA Enerji, we implemented the first digital power plant, the first transaction in the future electricity and natural gas markets in Türkiye. Although it is among the top 20 in Türkiye with our 1,100 MW installed power, we are ranked 23rd among the energy companies in Türkiye according to Capital Magazine’s 2021 Capital500 research. We take climate change as our focus and plan to shift a large part of our investments to renewable energy in the future. We recently increased the capacity of the 853 MW İç Anadolu Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (ICAN) in Kırıkkale, which has effective production with its flexibility and efficiency in our portfolio, to 870 MW. The transformation of ICAN into a Hybrid Power Plant is one of our most important projects in the recent past…”
Continuing its activities in partnership with GAMA Holding (50.5%), TNB (Malaysia) and IFC and GIF (19.5%), which are among the leading companies in the Turkish energy sector, GAMA Enerji celebrated its 20th anniversary with its partners and employees at a meeting held in the GAMA Building on October 31, 2022.
At the meeting, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Holding and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Enerji İ. Ömer Tunçata, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Holding and Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Enerji Hakan Özman and GAMA Enerji Board Member and General Manager Tamer Çalışır made important evaluations on the company’s goals and expectations for the first 20 years of the company.
İ. Ömer Tunçata, Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Holding and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Enerji:
Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Holding and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Enerji İ. Ömer Tunçata, in his speech describing GAMA Enerji as a value of the Republic of Türkiye, said the following; “GAMA Enerji is a value of the Republic of Türkiye that was established 20 years ago with a visionary perspective and has become an international company today. The foundation of the company was formed by the first Build-Operate-Transfer (bot) model Birecik Dam, Marmara Ereğlisi Combied Cycle Gas Turbine and İzmit water projects. These are giant projects of that period and these projects allowed GAMA Holding to step into investment. GAMA Enerji, which continues its path successfully in Türkiye and international platforms even in the most difficult conditions, has gained a very important place in the sector with its respectful stance towards people, society and the environment. The company’s 20 years of success is a source of pride for us. We all have faith that he will continue on his way successfully in the next period.”
Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Holding and Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Enerji A. Hakan Özman:
Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Holding and Chairman of the Board of Directors of GAMA Enerji Hakan Özman in his speech: “GAMA Enerji is a great success story and a source of pride. After the establishment of GAMA Enerji in 2002, it has become an international company with new assets and foreign partners in 20 years. In these 20 years, there have been very difficult days and great crises, but our friends have never lost their faith. Looking ahead, with agendas such as sustainability, the global energy crisis, and climate change, I see that GAMA Enerji still has a lot of work to do. I believe that GAMA Enerji will continue its achievements,” he said.
GAMA Enerji Board Member and General Manager Tamer Çalışır:
GAMA Enerji Board Member and General Manager Tamer Çalışır stated that as GAMA Enerji, they have achieved the firsts in Türkiye, the first bot plants in Türkiye were built by GAMA Group and then transferred to GAMA Enerji company and said: “We undertook the first bot plant construction in Türkiye as GAMA Group. As GAMA Enerji, we implemented the first digital power plant, the first transaction in the future electricity and natural gas markets in Türkiye. Although it is among the top 20 in Türkiye with our 1,100 MW installed power, we are ranked 23rd among the energy companies in Türkiye according to Capital Magazine’s 2021 Capital500 research. We take climate change as our focus and plan to shift a large part of our investments to renewable energy in the future. We recently increased the capacity of the 853 MW İç Anadolu Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (ICAN) in Kırıkkale, which has effective production with its flexibility and efficiency in our portfolio, to 870 MW. The transformation of ICAN into a hybrid power plant is one of our most important projects in the recent past… ”
Giving information about the Jordan Water Project, Çalışır said; “The Jordan Water Project, which is carried out by GAMA Enerji, is one of the most important water resources in the region. The Ministry wants us to increase the capacity by 20 percent in a very short time. We will close the transaction with 100 million m3 this year with 108.6 million m3 and we aim to increase it to 120 million m3 as soon as possible.”
Stating that they will reach a turnover of $1 billion as GAMA Enerji in 2022, Çalışır said, “The total of GAMA Enerji’s investments is around $1.9 billion today. Of this, $530 million has been invested as equity by GAMA Enerji partners. Since 2022, we have paid $1 billion in debt, of which $480 million is principal, and the rest is interest. The remaining debt is $900 million. We reduced our debt EBITDA multiplier to 6 figures. Our goal is to reduce the number to 3. Then we want to get into new projects by getting into debt again.” and thanked the partners, the board of directors, and all employees for their participation and ended his speech.
GAMA Power Systems Project Manager Oben Miçooğulları answered our questions about the 200 MW Hartha Thermal Power Station Rehabilitation – Unit 1 project completed in November 2022.
We have successfully completed our Hartha project. We congratulate the entire Hartha project team. Could you tell us about the Hartha project?
The Hartha Rehabilitation project is a major rehabilitation project carried out in partnership with GAMA-Mitsubishi Power with the aim of making the 1st unit of the Hartha thermal power plant, which was established 36 years ago, work most efficiently for another 10 years. Considering that the 4th unit of this facility was also rehabilitated by GAMA between 2017-2018, the Hartha project carried out with the same employer and project partners is a successful example of reliability and harmonious cooperation, which is one of the most important values of GAMA.
Hartha Power Plant is a rehabilitation project, can you talk about the importance of “brownfield” projects in terms of sustainability?
Hartha Thermal Power Plant is an important facility in terms of energy supply security for the southern region of Iraq, primarily Basra. The employment support and social benefit added value it provides to the people of the region is undeniable. For this reason, the modernization or rehabilitation of brownfield sites in the region is critical to the sustainability of the welfare level and regional stability environment. In addition to geopolitical sustainability, the rehabilitation of ‘brownfield’ sites within the scope of industrial ecology allows the old industrial facilities, which continue to be operated instead of building a plant from scratch, to work more efficiently with new technology applications and low emission values, measurable and traceable waste treatment system gains by incorporating modern filtration systems into the process.
What do you think about the future of conventional power plants considering alternative energy sources (solar, wind, etc.)?
While the share of alternative energy sources in global electricity production increases geometrically, new technologies are entering our lives. Over the past decade, we’ve been talking about the share of solar, wind, geothermal, or biomass resources in energy production, and today we’re producing power plants and equipment powered by blue hydrogen and green hydrogen. In direct proportion to technological developments, these innovative studies will also make a significant contribution in terms of efficiency. In addition, the development and spread of innovative energy storage technologies will contribute to carbon-free energy production in terms of cost and reduce the share of conventional power plants in production. However, today conventional power plants still account for a very important part of the total electricity production. I think that this situation will not change in the next 10 years and the advantageous countries with fossil fuel reserves will continue to maintain their regional weight in terms of cost/performance.
If there has been an application that can create value for our other projects from the difficulties experienced in the project construction process and the measures taken to overcome these difficulties, would you share it with us?
I can say that the fact that the power plant, which is located in a difficult geography such as Basra, was damaged in wars that took place in 2 different periods was the most difficult project that I was involved in technically with long-term serious maintenance deficiencies. The integration of the new generation equipment with the system with 40 years of history was not easy. In addition, the impact of the Iran-US problem on the region in terms of the geographical location of the power plant, the security weaknesses caused by long-term internal conflicts and protests, visa problems, the temperature reaching 60 degrees in the summer periods, and the pandemic period affecting the whole world coinciding with the middle of the project were important problems affecting the project. During the pandemic period, we continued our work on the project site with all our strengths, along with all the other challenges I mentioned. Since we are the only international commitment company that has never experienced a covid-19 case throughout Iraq, the award given by the Employer and Iraqi health authorities increased our motivation one more time at that time.
In terms of how we overcome the challenges we face, I think our most successful point is strong communication, rapid adaptation to variables and focusing on our own business without respecting the regional difficulties experienced independently from the project. We are proud that our project, which we have successfully completed despite relatively unstable and extreme weather conditions in terms of security, has been added to the achievements of GAMA, a global brand with the ability to do business in different geographies.
Can you share a funny moment you experienced in the Hartha project that you will never forget?
Although I have many memories that I will not forget in the project, I would like to mention one of them. While performing the rehabilitation of Unit 4, it was a memory I will not forget that the law enforcement officers asked me to be a mediator because we had good communication with both sides to reconcile the two tribes who had enmity around the power plant, and as a result, the problem between them was solved.
What motivated you to work on the project?
My most important motivation in the project is short and clear; job satisfaction. It was important for me to see that both your employer and your project partners were satisfied with the performance you put forward in a difficult geography with a team that I worked with on different projects before.
What value do you think we create as GAMA? What are the greatest characteristics that differentiate us?
The value we create for me is, I think, first and foremost, trust. In the projects we contribute, our employers, project partners and employees trust the GAMA brand even in the most difficult conditions. In addition, I think that the fact that my project-based teammates, even those who started to work in other companies in much more comfortable regions after the completion of the project, want to be involved in a GAMA project again is an indication that we create an important value. Our difference, I think, is that we adapt quickly to all kinds of working conditions.
As GAMA Energy, we have published our 2021 Sustainability Report approved by Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in order to convey our activities and current developments within the scope of sustainability.
The Hartha U1 Thermal Power Plant Rehabilitation project opening ceremony was held on November 3, 2022, with attendance by the Iraqi Minister of Electricity, Mr. Ziad Ali Fadhil, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Mr. Takagi Kei, Turkish Consul General in Basra Mr. Mehmet Özgün Arman, Japan Ambassador to Iraq Mr. Futoshi Matsumoto, and JICA Chief Representative Mr. Gen Yoneda, which was carried out by GAMA Power Systems – Mitsubishi Power JV.
GAMA was represented by Projects Director Mr. Osman Eken and Project Manager Mr. Oben Miçooğulları. The deputies representing Basra in the parliament, the Director of the Basra Police Department, and general managers from several public institutions participated in the opening ceremony.
By the completion of Hartha Thermal Power Plant Unit-1 project, which had many serious damages before rehabilitation, the Generator output is restored to the original output of 200 MW, and the life of the Boiler/Turbine/Generator is extended for 10 years. Hartha Thermal Power Plant Project has become an essential power source for the Basra region, which constantly has unwanted power outages.
We are pleased to announce that our Hartha Power Plant U1 Rehabilitation Project, constructed by GAMA Power Systems and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) Consortium was successfully completed and the Operational Acceptance Certificate is achieved on September 12, 2022.
By the completion of Hartha Thermal Power Plant Unit-1 project, which had many serious damages before rehabilitation, the Generator output is restored to the original output of 200 MW, and the life of the Boiler/Turbine/Generator is extended for 10 years. Hartha Thermal Power Plant Project has become an essential power source for the Basra region, which constantly has unwanted power outages.
We congratulate our devoted Hartha project team for such outstanding achievement despite the difficult conditions of the region and the pandemic period.
