Chapter 256: Power Promotion

What Gao Da did not expect was that only a few days after finalizing the order with the German government, the American ambassador also came knocking, requesting to purchase the light bulb and generator technology of the Power Company.

Although both Germany and the United States wanted Spain's power technology, the two countries' methods of purchase were completely different.

Germany wanted to save on capital expenditure, and they also possessed sufficient industrial technology to exchange for Spain's power technology.

As for the Americans, they had nothing in terms of technology that could tempt Spain, so their choice was simple and straightforward: to purchase directly with money.

Of course, since they were buying things in Spain, the money spent could certainly not be US dollars. The American ambassador stated that the American government was willing to use British pounds or pesetas to purchase Spain's power technology; as long as the Spanish side was willing to name a price, the United States was willing to take the entire order.

Facts proved that the current United States indeed had the air of an upstart. As a country that had just been independent for 100 years, the population of the United States had already reached a figure unimaginable to European countries.

Except for Russia, which was the only exception that could crush the United States in terms of population, the population of the United States had already surpassed any country in Europe.

The United States ushered in a long period of peace after the end of the Civil War, and its rapidly developing economy also attracted a large amount of European capital.

Under the intervention of this European capital, the speed of American railway development was so exaggerated that European countries could not catch up no matter what, which indirectly affected American industry and allowed American industry to also achieve extremely rapid development.

Under such circumstances, the United States became an industrial power and an economic power in a very short time. But it was also very clear that because of the push from European capital behind it, the United States was restricted everywhere in terms of industry and economy, and could not be considered a true great power.

If not for this European capital, the development speed of the United States would certainly not have been this fast. The overly fast development speed of the United States also earned it the title of "upstart," and because European citizens generally looked down on the United States, Americans who came to Europe were also jokingly called upstarts from remote villages by Europeans.

Of course, this was not entirely a mockery of Americans; there was also a hint of envy for Americans mixed in.

Anyway, regardless of what was said, Americans were indeed wealthy. At least the attitude of the Americans in doing business made Gao Da satisfied; since the Americans wanted to send money to him, how could Gao Da have any reason to refuse?

The wealthy and imposing Americans ordered over 3, 00 street lamps and 20 large generators; this order was even larger than the one ordered by the German government.

The cost of the 20 generators alone was enough for the Power Company to make a small profit, not to mention that 3, 00 street lamps were also a not-insignificant income, at least enough to ensure that Spain recovered half of its investment in the "City of Eternal Night" in Madrid.

Of course, to complete these two large orders in a short time, the employees of the Power Company would have to suffer a bit.

However, the employees of the Power Company were also very willing, because they had extra pay for working overtime, which could increase their income; the employees even took the initiative to request overtime, all for the sake of that extra income from those few hours of overtime.

After signing orders with the nobility, the German government, and the American government, the Power Company could be considered to have truly become busy.

Although the company had not been established for long, the potential of the Power Company had been fully displayed. Gao Da believed that perhaps ten years later, the Spanish Power Company would become one of the most profitable companies under Gao Da's control, and the money earned by the Power Company could also be invested into the Power Laboratory, thereby reducing Gao Da's expenditure on scientific research.

The same logic applied to the Automobile Company. Once the Automobile Company made money, Gao Da would not need to invest too much capital in automobiles.

The money earned by these two companies would be enough to maintain the relevant research and improvement costs, and Gao Da's capital could be invested in other research fields, building a more solid foundation for Spain in more industries and more technologies.

Of course, not all countries wanted to introduce Spanish technology. A few days after Christmas passed, a piece of news from the British Empire detonated the entire Europe.

The British government established the London Royal Power Company in London, and the London Royal Power Company announced that it would build at least ten power stations within three months to provide sufficient electricity for the entire London.

Britain was the most powerful country in the world, and London was Britain's most developed and prosperous city. As the lighthouse of European civilization, London citizens would never allow London to fall behind others in terms of electricity.

Upon learning the news of the formation of the London Royal Power Company, London citizens were quite satisfied, and the British government also successfully quelled the dissatisfaction of citizens caused by the "City of Eternal Night" in Madrid.

After dawdling for a few days, the French government also had to announce that it would form a power company to illuminate the entire Paris.

Because they did not have enough technology to build power stations, the French government ultimately could only find Spain and sign a cooperation agreement with Spain.

Whether it was the cooperation with the Americans or the cooperation with the French, the Spanish National Power Company focused on selling patents and did not intend to cooperate with other countries through patent licensing.

The main reason for this was the weak awareness of patents in this era. Selling patents could ensure that one did not lose money, but if patent licensing were conducted, once the licensing period passed, the other party would highly likely not renew the contract, but instead use the mastered technology to commit patent infringement.

In this era, it was almost impossible to fight cross-border patent lawsuits, not to mention that the cooperation targets were all these great powers.

Even if a patent lawsuit could be won, by the day the lawsuit was won, power technology would have already been updated several times over.

Precisely because of this, Spain advocated for the direct sale of patents in any cooperation regarding patents; Gao Da would not trust the character of other countries, as patent infringement was almost everywhere in this era, and no one would foolishly abide by so-called patent clauses.

Selling patent technology was still very profitable. The patent technology sold to the United States and France alone allowed the Spanish National Power Company to obtain a return of over 20 million pesetas.

Added to the income from selling power equipment and light bulbs, Gao Da had already recovered all the costs invested in the Power Laboratory, and even made a small profit.

After finishing negotiations with several countries, time turned in a flash to New Year's Day of 1880.

Regarding the goal of the National Power Company in 1880, Gao Da gave the order to proceed with a two-pronged approach, fully developing the power industries in Madrid and Barcelona.

As the capital of Spain and the city with the largest population, plus the fact that a large number of nobles lived in the surrounding areas, Madrid had the hope of finding enough power users.

Barcelona also had a large population, and there was a large industrial base in the surrounding area, which also possessed many potential users.

The first step of the plan for the development of Spain's power industry was to have electricity in all the streets and alleys of Madrid and Barcelona, and to radiate to the factories around the two cities, letting the public feel the charm of electricity.

Even if the main usage scenario for electricity at present could only be used for lighting, one still could not deny the convenience that electricity brought to people's lives.

Light bulbs could make factories brighter when working at night, thereby improving workers' work efficiency and reducing mistakes caused by work.

Light bulbs could also illuminate people's houses; whether it was for studying or other activities at night, being able to see clearly was always better than not being able to see clearly.

The current Power Laboratory had been split into two parts by Gramme. Gramme led a portion of the researchers to form the Power Company, and the main task of the Power Company was to maintain Spain's power grid and solve problems encountered by factories and the public in using electricity.

Tesla took the remaining part of the researchers to continue engaging in power research; the Power Laboratory mainly researched larger-capacity generators and light bulbs with longer usage times, and Gramme also served as the chief expert of the Power Laboratory; he would not give up on the research of electricity.

In addition to promoting the use of electricity, the Power Company also needed to formulate a set of universal power standards as much as possible.

This included the power transmission method, the voltage size for industrial and civil use, and the power usage of light bulbs, etc.

If a set of power standards led by Spain could be formed, the Spanish Power Company would occupy a huge advantage in the development of electricity.

After all, subsequent power research and development would be carried out according to their own standards, and Spanish scientific researchers only needed to conduct research according to their own standards and did not need to interface with international standards.

The current power market was still a blank slate, and even most European countries had purchased Spain's light bulbs and power generation equipment.

Under such circumstances, it was still very simple for the Spanish National Power Company to formulate a set of universal standards.

Other countries wanting to overthrow Spain's power standards would at least have to wait until they possessed more excellent power generation equipment and light bulbs.

Moreover, whether to overthrow Spain's power standards also had to consider whether such behavior could bring them benefits. If the disadvantages of doing so outweighed the benefits, it was believed that many people would not choose to overthrow the existing standards.

On January 11, 1880, the Barcelona municipal government announced the formation plan of the Barcelona Power Company to the public, and at the same time announced the several streets in Barcelona that were about to have street lamps built.

The street lamp construction plan in Barcelona would not be as crazy as in Madrid; after all, the "City of Eternal Night" in Madrid had received strong support from the government.

Although the development of Barcelona also had government funding, to a large extent, it also had to rely on Barcelona's own efforts. Fortunately, whether in the urban area or the industrial area of Barcelona, fiscal revenue was very high, so maintaining the development of Barcelona was still not a problem.

According to the street lamp construction plan announced by the Barcelona municipal government, Barcelona would, in the year 1880, install at least 1, 00 street lamps on four streets in the Barcelona urban area, and build a large power station each in the northeast and southwest of Barcelona to provide lighting for the urban area.

Two large power stations supplying only 1, 00 street lamps was obviously too extravagant, and precisely because of this, Barcelona citizens could apply to the Barcelona Power Company to connect circuits and purchase light bulbs from the Power Company to provide lighting for themselves.

Of course, factories in the industrial area also had the right to do so. Even if there were too many factories wanting to connect lines, the Barcelona Power Company would consider building another large power station near the Barcelona industrial area to meet the power demand of the factories in the industrial area.

If one had to talk about the greatest effect brought by lighting, it was that people could continue to work or study in the dark.

And for factories, this was extremely important. With light bulbs, workers' working hours could be extended to late at night, and factories could also carry out two-shift production to improve production efficiency.

This could not only increase the total production value of the industrial area but also allow some small-scale factories to earn more money.

Although this would sacrifice a portion of the workers' rest time, under the protection of the Spanish Labor Law, these workers could also receive the income they deserved for overtime, which was very worthwhile for the workers.

After all, in other European countries, there were still many workers who had to work overtime every day but could not get any overtime pay. Even let alone getting extra overtime pay, they could not even get their normal basic wages in full.

For capitalists, trying every possible way to deduct workers' wages was simply a matter of course. The wages less paid to workers would all enter the pockets of the capitalists, and which capitalist would think that the money in their pockets was too little?

Sure enough, after the Barcelona municipal government officially formed the Power Company, factory owners found the newly formed Power Company to inquire about the prices of light bulbs and connecting lines.

Although the Barcelona Power Company was established by the municipal government, the Spanish National Power Company was the true major shareholder. The shares held by the Barcelona municipal government were only 40%, and the remaining 60% of the shares belonged to the Spanish National Power Company.

Precisely because of this, the electricity price in Barcelona was consistent with that in Madrid, both being 2. pesetas per kilowatt-hour.

In the stage when the Power Company was just formed, such a low electricity price was definitely a loss-making one. Because there were not many people using electricity, a considerable portion of the electricity generated by the power plant would be wasted in vain, but power generation required capital consumption.

Fortunately, the factory owners in Barcelona were indeed capable; since the formation of the Barcelona Power Company, the factory owners who came to the Power Company to seek cooperation could be described as an endless stream.

Perhaps it was the good effect brought by the "City of Eternal Night" in Madrid; in less than a week, the number of factories choosing to connect circuits and purchase light bulbs had already exceeded 20.

These factories were basically medium and large factories in the industrial area, with the number of employees easily reaching hundreds or even thousands.

The reason they purchased light bulbs was also very simple, which was that the lighting of light bulbs could improve the work efficiency of the factories, allowing the factory owners to earn more money.

Don't underestimate these 20-plus factories; each factory purchased dozens of light bulbs, and the total purchase volume combined reached hundreds.

And compared to the electricity usage duration of ordinary citizens, the electricity usage duration of factories would be longer.

Added to the fact that there was a certain difference in the electricity selling price of the Power Company regarding industrial electricity and civil electricity, this also led to the fact that cooperation with factories was more profitable than cooperation with ordinary citizens.

Currently, the price of civil electricity in Spain was 2. pesetas per kilowatt-hour; the cost of industrial electricity was not much different, but it would have certain changes under certain circumstances.

That is, electricity currently needed to be promoted, so the price of industrial electricity was also kept at a relatively low level. Once electricity was widely applied, the cost of industrial electricity would certainly have to be increased.

After all, industrial electricity was the bulk of electricity usage; if industrial electricity still maintained a low selling price, then the one losing money could only be the Power Company.

In addition to the Barcelona Power Company engaging in cooperation with factories, the Madrid Power Company was also pushing for light bulbs to enter various factories in the suburbs.

The total number of factories in Madrid was smaller than in Barcelona, but the owners behind the factories in Madrid were mostly capable capitalists or nobles.

The nobles certainly understood the role of light bulbs, and in order to improve the work efficiency of the factories, they were certainly willing to purchase light bulbs.

Even the number of factories in Madrid that had finalized orders with the Power Company was more than that in Barcelona, reaching a full 30.

However, such data was not exaggerated; after all, the factory owners around Madrid were all very capable, and plus the fact that the factories in Gao Da's hands signed orders almost at the first moment the Power Company was established, it made the factories in Madrid willing to introduce electricity look more numerous.

Gao Da's steel mills currently had two major bases, which were Madrid and Barcelona respectively. The Madrid Royal Steel Mill and the Barcelona Royal Steel Mill both introduced electricity and installed at least hundreds of light bulbs.

Moreover, a considerable portion of the light bulbs purchased by the steel mills were 35-watt light bulbs; these light bulbs had higher manufacturing costs, and the brightness would naturally be higher.

Some small factories purchased 15-watt small light bulbs; although they could also be used for lighting, the brightness could not be compared with 35-watt light bulbs at all.

However, as the saying goes, there are gains and losses; although 15-watt light bulbs had lower brightness, the power consumption was also lower, and factory owners still needed to consider the cost of electricity.

Whether in Madrid or Barcelona, the Power Company did not consider the electricity demand of rural areas and small cities.

After all, the electricity price at this time was something that ordinary commoners could not afford; even if there were electricity-using customers in small cities, the number would certainly not be too many.

This was also something that could not be helped. Before the cost of electricity was completely reduced, things like electricity were destined to be enjoyed only by a small number of people.

To allow most ordinary people to also enjoy the convenience brought by electricity, it would take at least several decades to achieve.

Even in later generations, there were many regions that had not been connected to electricity; after all, not all countries could afford the electricity demand of such small-scale populations in rural areas.

Laying lines and maintaining the supply of electricity both required costs, and providing electricity to some sparsely populated rural areas was obviously a loss-making endeavor.

In an era where everyone could enjoy the convenience of electricity, one actually had to thank the policies and governments that could allow both urban and rural populations to use electricity.

And in this era, it was completely impossible for everyone to use electricity. More than a month had passed since the "City of Eternal Night" in Madrid, and the number of households in the Madrid urban area willing to connect to electricity was only less than one thousand, which was only a few thousand people.

The population of Madrid exceeded 500, 00, and these few thousand people were only one percent of the population of Madrid.

This was actually about the same as the initial estimate of the Power Company. The population in the entire Spain that could afford electricity was less than one-tenth; even in Madrid, the capital of Spain, the number of households with the ability to connect to electricity and use electricity in recent years would definitely not exceed ten thousand.

Among them, there were still many nobles and capitalists; if only commoners were counted, the number would be even smaller, even pitifully small.

5, 00-word two-in-one chapter, asking for monthly tickets!

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(End of this chapter)