Coventry manufacturer lands £5m export order for innovative product

A COVENTRY manufacturer has landed one of its largest ever export orders.

Bladon Jets, which designs and manufactures small scale power generators, has secured a £4.8m ($7m) order for its 12kW Micro Turbine Genset from QTE, a leading provider of infrastructure services to the telecom towers and energy services sector across Africa.
 
This is the first significant volume order for the 12kW MTG and follows on from field trials of the product over the last six months.

The gensets will be used to power telecom tower sites in Africa that are managed by QTE. Bladon will begin delivery of the order in the fourth quarter of 2016.
 
Paul Barrett, CEO of Bladon Jets, said: “We are delighted to have secured this contract with QTE, one of the leading telecom towers infrastructure providers in Africa. This agreement is a strong endorsement of our innovative technology and the advantages that our generators can offer in the region and beyond.”
 
Andrew Edmondson, CEO of QTE, added: “We have been very impressed by the advantages of Bladon’s micro-turbine generators compared to conventional diesel gensets. The 8,000 hour service interval really is a game changer for telecom tower operators and we look forward to working with Bladon to commence installation of their gensets on the sites we manage across Africa.”

QTE provides infrastructure services to telecom towers businesses in 10 countries in Africa, including Uganda, Malawi, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania. Currently a total of around 200,000 telecom towers are operated across Africa to provide mobile communications infrastructure to the region and the number is growing rapidly.
 
Nearly all telecom towers in Africa have electrical generators installed on site to provide back up or ‘prime’ (24/7) power and these are replaced on average every three years. The world market for diesel gensets for telecom towers is over 600,000 units per year.
 
Bladon’s MTGs are more efficient and cleaner burning than conventional diesel generators and can be powered by a range of fuels. They are also smaller, lighter and quieter.

Whilst diesel generators typically require an oil change after every 300 hours of use and a major service every 1,500 hours or so, Bladon’s MTGs require no oil or water and can run for up to 8,000 hours unattended.
 
This represents major cost savings for operators and in poorer countries such as those in Africa this is an important consideration.

 
 
 

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