Chapter 254: Electricity Promotion
What Carlo didn’t expect was that just a few days after finalizing the order with the German Government, the US diplomatic ambassador also came knocking, requesting to purchase the Electric Company’s electric lamps and generator technology.
Although both Germany and the United States wanted Spain’s electricity technology, the two countries’ purchasing methods were completely different.
Germany wanted to save on funds expenditure, and they also possessed sufficient industrial technology to exchange for Spain’s electricity technology.
Meanwhile, the Americans had nothing in technology that could move Spain, and their choice was simple and straightforward: to purchase directly with money.
Of course, since it was buying things in Spain, the money spent certainly couldn’t be US Dollars. The US ambassador stated that the US Government was willing to purchase Spain’s electricity technology with Pound Sterling or Pesetas, as long as the Spanish side was willing to set a price, the US was willing to take the entire order.
Facts proved that the current United States indeed had the air of a parvenu. As a nation that had been independent for just over 100 years, the United States’ population had already reached numbers unimaginable to European Countries.
Except for Russia, which could still crush the United States in terms of population, the United States’ population had surpassed that of any European Country.
After the end of the Civil War, the United States entered a long phase of peace, and its rapidly developing economy also attracted large amounts of European capital.
Under the intervention of this European capital, the development speed of US railways was exaggerated to the point that European Countries couldn’t catch up, which also indirectly influenced US industry, allowing US industry to achieve extremely rapid development.
In such circumstances, the United States became an industrial powerhouse and economic powerhouse in a very short time. But it was also obvious that due to the promotion by European capital behind it, the United States was restricted everywhere in industry and economy, and couldn’t be considered a true great power.
Without this European capital, the United States’ development speed definitely wouldn’t have been this fast. The United States’ excessively fast development speed also earned it the title of parvenu, and because European public generally looked down on the United States, Americans coming to Europe were also mockingly called parvenus from remote villages by Europeans.
Of course, this wasn’t entirely mockery of Americans; it was mixed with a hint of envy for them.
Anyway, no matter what, Americans did indeed have money. At least the Americans’ attitude in doing business satisfied Carlo, and since the Americans were sending money to him, how could Carlo have any reason to refuse.
The wealthy Americans ordered over 3000 streetlights and 20 large generators, an order even larger than the one from the German Government.
Just the cost of 20 generators alone was enough for the Electric Company to make a small profit, not to mention that 3000 streetlights were also a considerable income, at least enough to recoup half of the investment in Madrid’s Nightless City.
Of course, to complete these two major orders in a short time, it would require making the Electric Company’s employees work hard.
However, the Electric Company’s employees were all very willing, because they received extra pay for overtime, which could increase their income, and the employees even proactively requested overtime for the extra income from those few hours.
After signing orders with nobles, the German Government, and the US Government, the Electric Company truly became busy.
Although the company had been established not long ago, the Electric Company’s potential had been fully demonstrated. Carlo believed that perhaps in ten years, the Spanish Electricity Company would become one of the most profitable companies under him, and the money earned by the Electric Company could be invested into the Electricity Laboratory, thereby reducing Carlo’s expenditure in research.
The same logic applied to the Automobile Company. Once the Automobile Company started making money, Carlo wouldn’t need to invest too much funds in automobiles.
The money earned by these two companies would be enough to sustain related research and improvements, and Carlo’s funds could be invested into other research areas, building a more solid foundation for Spain in more industries and more technologies.
Of course, not all countries wanted to introduce Spain’s technology. Just a few days after Christmas, a piece of news from the British Empire exploded across all of Europe.
The British Government established the London Royal Electric Company in London, and the London Royal Electric Company announced it would build at least ten power stations within three months to provide sufficient electricity for the whole of London.
The United Kingdom was the world’s most powerful country, and London was the UK’s most developed and prosperous city. As the beacon of European civilization, London citizens absolutely would not allow London to fall behind in electricity.
After learning of the establishment of the London Royal Electric Company, London citizens were quite satisfied, and the British Government also smoothly quelled the dissatisfaction emotions among citizens caused by Madrid’s Nightless City.
After dragging on for a few days, the French Government also had to announce that it would establish an electricity company to light up the whole of Paris.
Lacking sufficient technology to build power stations, the French Government ultimately had no choice but to approach Spain and sign a cooperation agreement with Spain.
Whether cooperating with Americans or French, the Spanish National Electricity Company focused on selling patents and had no intention of cooperating with other countries through patent licensing.
The main reason was the faint awareness of patents in this era. Selling patents guaranteed no loss, but if engaging in patent licensing, once the licensing period expired, the other party would very likely not renew and instead commit patent infringement with the already mastered technology.
In this era, fighting cross-national patent lawsuits was almost impossible, not to mention that the cooperating parties were all these great powers.
Even if the patent lawsuit could be won, by the day it was won, electricity technology would have already gone through several rounds of updates.
Precisely because of this, in any cooperation involving patents, Spain advocated direct sale of patents. Carlo wouldn’t trust the character of other countries; patent infringement was almost ubiquitous in this era, and no one would foolishly abide by so-called patent terms.
Selling patent technology was still very profitable. Just the patent technology sold to the United States and France brought the Spanish National Electricity Company over 20 million Pesetas in reward.
Plus the income from selling power generation equipment and electric lamps, Carlo had already recouped all the costs invested in the Electricity Laboratory, and even made a small profit.
After negotiating cooperation with several countries, time quickly arrived at New Year’s Day of
For the Spanish National Electricity Company’s goals in 1880, Carlo issued an order for a two-pronged approach, fully developing the electricity industry in Madrid and Barcelona.
Madrid, as Spain’s capital and the city with the largest population, plus the large number of nobles living in the surroundings, had hope of finding enough electricity users.
Barcelona’s population was also very large, and it had a large industrial base nearby, also possessing many potential users.
The first step plan for the development of Spain’s electricity industry was to electrify all streets big and small in Madrid and Barcelona, and extend to the factories around the two cities, letting the public feel the charm of electricity.
Even if electricity’s main usage scenario currently was only lighting, it still couldn’t be denied that electricity brought convenience to people’s lives.
Electric lamps could make factories brighter when working at night, thereby improving workers’ work efficiency and reducing errors in work.
Electric lamps could also light up people’s homes; at night, whether for studying or other activities, being able to see clearly was always better than not.
The current Electricity Laboratory had been dispersed into two parts by Gramme. Gramme led a portion of researchers to form the Electric Company, whose main task was to maintain Spain’s electricity network and deal with problems encountered in factories’ and public’s electricity use.
Tesla took the remaining portion of researchers to continue electricity research; the electricity research room mainly researched higher power generators and light bulbs with longer usage time. Gramme also served as the chief expert of the Electricity Laboratory; he wouldn’t abandon electricity research.
Besides promoting electricity usage, the Electric Company also needed to formulate a set of universal electricity standards as much as possible.
This included electricity transmission methods, voltage sizes for industrial and civilian uses, light bulb power usage, and so on.
If a set of electricity standards dominated by Spain could be formed, Spain’s electricity companies would occupy a great advantage in electricity development.
After all, subsequent electricity research and development would follow their own standards, and Spain’s researchers only needed to research according to their own standards, without needing to interface with international standards.
The current electricity market was still a blank slate, and even most European Countries had procured Spain’s light bulbs and power generation equipment.
In such circumstances, it was still very simple for the Spanish National Electricity Company to formulate a set of universal standards.
Other countries wanting to overturn Spain’s electricity standards would at least have to wait until they possessed superior power generation equipment and light bulbs.
Moreover, whether to overturn Spain’s electricity standards would also consider if such behavior brought benefits. If the downsides outweighed the benefits, many people probably wouldn’t choose to overturn the existing standards.
On January 11, 1880, Barcelona City Hall publicly announced the establishment plan for the Barcelona Electricity Company, and also revealed several streets in Barcelona that would soon have electric lamps built.
Barcelona’s streetlights construction plan wouldn’t be as crazy as Madrid’s, after all, Madrid’s Nightless City had received strong government support.
Although Barcelona’s development also had government funding, it largely relied on Barcelona’s own efforts. Fortunately, whether Barcelona’s urban area or industrial zone, fiscal revenue was very high, enough to sustain Barcelona’s development.
According to the streetlights construction plan announced by Barcelona City Hall, Barcelona would use the year 1880 to install at least 1200 streetlights on four streets in Barcelona’s urban area, and build one large power station each in Barcelona’s northeast and southwest to provide lighting for the urban area.
The two large power stations supplying only 1200 electric lamps was obviously too luxurious, and precisely because of this, Barcelona citizens could apply to the Barcelona Electricity Company for circuit connection and purchase light bulbs from the electricity company for their own lighting.
Of course, factories in the industrial zone had the right to do so as well. Even if too many factories wanted to connect lines, the Barcelona Electricity Company would consider building another large power station near the Barcelona industrial zone to meet the electricity needs of factories in the industrial zone.
Speaking of the greatest role brought by lighting, it was that people could continue working or studying in the dark night.
For factories, this was extremely important. With light bulbs, workers’ working hours could be extended to late at night, and factories could implement two-shift production to improve production efficiency.
This not only raised the industrial zone’s total production value but also allowed some smaller-scale factories to earn more money.
Although this would sacrifice some workers’ rest time, under the protection of Spain’s Labor Law, these workers could also get the income they deserved for overtime, which was very cost-effective for the workers.
After all, in other European Countries, many workers had to work overtime every day yet got no overtime pay. Even forget extra overtime pay; they couldn’t even get their full basic wages.
For capitalists, deducting workers’ salaries by any means was simply a matter of course. The wages not paid to workers would all go into the capitalists’ pockets, so which capitalist would complain about having too little money in their pocket?
Sure enough, after Barcelona City Hall formally established the electricity company, factory owners came to the newly formed electricity company inquiring about the prices of light bulbs and line connections.
Although the Barcelona Electricity Company was established by the municipal government, the Spanish National Electricity Company was the true major shareholder. Barcelona City Hall held only 40% shares, with the remaining 60% belonging to the Spanish National Electricity Company.
Precisely because of this, Barcelona’s electricity bill prices were the same as Madrid’s, both at 5 Pesetas per kilowatt-hour.
In the early stage of the electricity company’s establishment, such low electricity bills were definitely loss-making. Because of the small number of electricity users, a considerable portion of the power generated by the power plant would be wasted, but power generation required consumption of funds.
Fortunately, Barcelona’s factory owners were awesome. Since the Barcelona Electricity Company was established, factory owners seeking cooperation with the electricity company were endless.
Perhaps due to the good effects brought by Madrid’s Nightless City, in less than a week, the number of factories choosing to connect circuits and purchase light bulbs had exceeded
These factories were basically medium-to-large factories in the industrial zone, with employee numbers ranging from hundreds to even thousands.
The reason they purchased light bulbs was also simple: the lighting from light bulbs could improve factory work efficiency, allowing factory owners to earn more money.
Don’t underestimate these over 20 factories; each buying dozens of bulbs added up to a purchase volume of hundreds.
Moreover, compared to ordinary public’s electricity usage duration, factories’ electricity usage duration would be longer.
Plus, the electricity company had certain differences in selling prices for industrial electricity and civilian electricity, making cooperation with factories more profitable than with ordinary public.
Currently, Spain’s civilian electricity price was 5 Pesetas per kilowatt-hour, and industrial electricity cost was similar but would have some changes in certain situations.
That is, since electricity currently needed promotion, industrial electricity prices were also kept at a low level. Once electricity was widely applied, industrial electricity costs would definitely rise.
After all, industrial electricity was the major consumer; if industrial electricity stayed at low selling prices, the only one losing money would be the electricity company.
Besides the Barcelona Electricity Company cooperating with factories, the Madrid Electricity Company was also promoting electric lamps into suburban factories.
Madrid had fewer factories in total than Barcelona, but the owners behind Madrid’s factories were mostly powerful capitalists or nobles.
Nobles certainly understood the role of light bulbs; to improve factory work efficiency, they were of course willing to purchase light bulbs.
In fact, the number of factories that finalized orders with the electricity company in Madrid exceeded Barcelona’s, reaching a full
However, such numbers weren’t exaggerated; after all, factory owners around Madrid were very powerful, plus Carlo’s factories almost signed orders at the moment the electricity company was established, making the number of factories in Madrid willing to introduce electricity appear larger.
Carlo’s steel mill currently had two major sites: Madrid and Barcelona. Both the Madrid Royal Steel Mill and Barcelona Royal Steel Mill had introduced electricity and installed at least over a hundred light bulbs.
Moreover, a considerable portion of the light bulbs purchased by the steel mills were 35-watt bulbs, which had higher cost and naturally higher brightness.
Some small factories purchased 15-watt small bulbs, which could also be used for lighting but whose brightness couldn’t compare to 35-watt bulbs at all.
But as the saying goes, there’s gain and loss; although 15-watt bulbs had lower brightness, their power consumption was also low, and factory owners still needed to consider electricity costs.
Whether Madrid or Barcelona, the electricity companies hadn’t considered electricity needs for rural areas and small cities.
After all, the current electricity bill prices were unaffordable for ordinary commoners; even if small cities had electricity customers, the number definitely wouldn’t be many.
This was unavoidable. Before electricity costs were fully lowered, electricity was destined to be enjoyed only by a minority.
To let most ordinary people enjoy the convenience brought by electricity would take at least decades.
Even in posterity, many regions hadn’t been connected to electricity, after all, not all countries could afford the electricity needs of rural areas with such small-scale populations.
Laying lines and maintaining electricity supply both required costs; electrifying rural areas with sparse populations was obviously loss-making.
In the era where everyone could enjoy electricity convenience, it actually required thanks to policies and governments that enabled both urban and rural populations to use electricity.
And in this era, wanting everyone to use electricity was completely impossible. Over a month after Madrid’s Nightless City, the number of households in Madrid urban area willing to connect electricity was only less than a thousand, that is, just a few thousand people.
Madrid’s population exceeded 500,000; these few thousand were just one percent of Madrid’s population.
This was roughly in line with the electricity company’s initial estimate. Across all of Spain, the group that could afford electricity was less than one-tenth; even in Spain’s capital Madrid, in the next few years, the number of families capable of connecting and using electricity absolutely wouldn’t exceed 10,000 households.
Among them were many nobles and capitalists; if counting only commoners, the number would be even fewer, even pitifully so.
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