African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 628: Chapter 306 Alternating Current

Tesla spoke about the development history of electricity, his eyes seemingly shining with light. This was second nature to Tesla because he was a scholarly type of person.

Professor Kael: ”Haha, I hope so, but now I have to rush to class, so you carry on with your work!”

He wasn’t here to listen to Tesla talk about physics; afterward, he rode away on the new bicycle issued by the East African government towards the school.

Watching Professor Kael’s departing figure, Tesla also smiled. From their interactions over this period, Professor Kael seemed to be a good neighbor; the two became friends across generations.

”Mom, I’m leaving!”

”Mm, come back early.”

Tesla exchanged greetings with his mother, who was busy tending the garden, and leisurely headed to school.

Tesla’s father passed away last year, so the most important person at home was his mother. His father was a priest of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and his mother was also the daughter of an Eastern Orthodox priest. Thus, Tesla’s parents once hoped Tesla would become a priest as well.

However, Tesla took the path of a scientist, perhaps influenced by several inventor relatives in the family. More importantly, although Tesla’s parents hoped he would become a priest after graduation, he wanted to be an engineer.

When Tesla finished high school, he contracted cholera and lay bedridden for nine months without recovering. While seriously ill, Tesla pleaded with his father to let him study engineering. His father agreed to send him to a technical institute once he recovered. Eventually, Tesla made a full recovery.

That cholera incident coincided with the World Exposition in Vienna in 1873, during which the outbreak was severe in many parts of Europe outside of Vienna and the Austria-Hungary Empire, and Tesla was one of the unlucky ones affected.

East African National Power University.

Tesla rode his bicycle through the school gate, and many students greeted him because Tesla was quite well-known on campus.

The main reason was his young age, yet he had already become a professor and was leading significant projects. Despite Tesla’s achievements, no one doubted him, because within a year of arriving in East Africa, the restless Tesla made significant breakthroughs in AC motor research. After discussions with the bigwigs of the Heixinggen Power Company, Tesla gained their recognition and praise, and even President Linde acknowledged his research.

However, there wasn’t much enthusiasm about whether East Africa would replace direct current with alternating current in the future. This was mainly because East Africa’s entire power system was currently based on direct current.

Overthrowing and rebuilding it would be a considerable undertaking, and although East Africa might be somewhat behind Europe, it wasn’t so in the field of electricity. During the era of direct current, East Africa also had a certain voice. Thus, many deemed the elusive concept of alternating current as unnecessary to promote.

After all, alternating current was still lying in Tesla’s laboratory, awaiting some time before it could be applied. Moreover, East Africa was entirely on direct current, making any modifications a laborious endeavor.

However, Ernst was certainly going to vigorously promote alternating current in East Africa, a point proven by experience from his previous life, especially from the Far Eastern Empire.

It had been previously mentioned that alternating current’s features were suitable for long-distance transmission and imposed low requirements on components.

Both aspects were crucial for East Africa, which sprawled vast distances, where one railway line could easily stretch over a thousand kilometers, comparable to the annual reach of many countries.

This expansive territory indicated a demand for long-distance power transmission in East Africa. Currently, the solution for power supply involved building more nearby power plants, which entailed astronomical costs.

Although the power transmission market wasn’t particularly vast, Ernst understood this was temporary, akin to the Western Electricity Transmission Project of the Far Eastern Empire from his past life.

The future would also necessitate such demands in East Africa, as the areas richest in hydropower resources, like the western Congo basin and the Katanga plateau in the central highlands, intersect.

If East Africa were to develop nuclear power in the future, the first choice of location would undoubtedly be in southwestern Africa, which were also sparsely populated areas.

Without even considering these, just coal-fired power alone revealed that East Africa’s coal resources were primarily in the south, so the future distribution of electricity in East Africa would be uneven, with significant demand for power transmission.

Of course, East Africa could follow the previous life’s Europe’s lead in using petroleum and natural gas for power generation, but this would mainly occur in the eastern regions. Besides, petroleum, as a resource, generally needs to be imported, as East Africa’s oil reserves aren’t abundant enough to use for power generation.

On the subject of component production, East Africa’s parts processing couldn’t compete with other countries globally, mainly referring to a few top powers. Reducing component standards would benefit current East African industry.

Furthermore, alternating current represented a new arena. Its dominance over direct current in the previous life demonstrated its superiority. In any case, before Ernst traveled back in time, alternating current still suppressed direct current, and now, in the nineteenth century, choosing the alternating current route would ensure at least a hundred years without needing to consider other alternatives.

Of course, relatively speaking, East Africa’s voltage would change accordingly, but considering the costs, a 220V supply standard was undeniably more advanced than 110V. Supplying the same amount of power through a 110V line required thicker wires, and electrical appliances of the same wattage were larger compared to those operating on 220V.

East Africa would need to forsake some initial costs to modify the standard, but compared to the savings in the long term, it was negligible.

Currently, the global electricity market was still narrow. In fact, the previous life’s United States had considered switching to 220 volts, but by then, 110 volts was almost ubiquitous. Forcing a change would render a large number of existing appliances and equipment obsolete, causing significant waste, coupled with high costs, making it an arduous undertaking. East Africa faced no such concerns now.

Essentially, the consideration at hand was a matter of profitability. Alternating current, under the current era’s conditions, could save vast amounts of costs, which was a critical factor for capital interests.

Moreover, compared with the direct current that suffered losses during transmission, alternating current offered a better user experience. As direct current transmitted, it lost power, causing the light bulbs to dim the farther away they were from the power plant. Alternating current, however, was easier for voltage boosting, providing more stable power supply.

Looking ahead to the promotion of alternating current, the presence of the Heixinggen Company would make solving this issue much easier, just like the successful commercialization of alternating current in Europe, where the Germany AEG Company monopolized the market. Now, the Heixinggen Power Company could play a comparable role.

This was greatly beneficial for European countries too, as the use of alternating current would save enough copper annually to cover the costs alone.

Currently, wires were predominantly copper, while the copper in Europe was less abundant compared to East Africa and the United States, so conserving it was of immense importance to Europe.

Furthermore, the lower quality and technological requirements for components required by alternating current inherently decided its market advantage over direct current.