Chapter 127: Taking it On
Author’s Note: Wrong Chapter sequence, the next Chapter is the first one and this is the second.
The journey back to Oriel began shortly after sunset.
Ernest settled into the carriage while the palace gates slowly disappeared behind him. Outside, the capital continued lighting itself one flame at a time. Lamplighters moved along the main roads carrying ladders and long poles while servants climbed palace steps to ignite chandeliers, lanterns, and wall fixtures before darkness fully settled.
The sight was familiar.
Almost comforting.
Yet after spending several evenings inside Oriel Estate beneath electric light, Ernest could no longer ignore how much effort the old system required.
Every lamp needed oil.
Every chandelier needed candles.
Every flame required someone to light it.
Every wick needed trimming.
Every glass enclosure needed cleaning.
And every night the entire process began again.
Arthur guided the carriage through the capital streets while Ernest sat near the window with the rolled plans resting beside him. Hollen had remained in Helmarte to deal with the merchant consortium, so for once, Ernest had the carriage to himself.
That suited him perfectly.
He needed time to think.
The king wanted a demonstration large enough to prove that electricity could serve more than a single mansion.
The whole of Oriel.
Beryl District.
Apex District.
Arcada District.
The idea sounded excellent inside the royal office.
Now that Ernest had time to examine it properly, the engineering problems began appearing one after another.
His hydroelectric station was not large enough.
That was the first and most obvious issue.
The Beryl station produced approximat ely one hundred forty kilowatts during the dry season. Wet-season output could rise considerably, but Ernest had never trusted peak figures. A system designed around abundant rain would become useless the moment the rivers weakened.
The station had been sized for his manor, its workshops, water pumps, laboratories, exterior lamps, and several future additions.
It had not been designed for three districts.
Not even close.
Ernest leaned back into the carriage seat and began estimating the required demand.
Beryl District housed wealthy merchants, senior company officials, industrialists, and several noble families. Most estates were large, with dozens of rooms, servant quarters, stables, gardens, gatehouses, and private workshops. Apex contained fewer residences, but the houses were larger and considerably more extravagant. Arcada held most of Oriel’s workers, craftsmen, clerks, and service families, meaning it possessed the greatest number of homes even if each household consumed far less power.
The residential count alone approached two thousand properties.
That did not include inns, markets, offices, workshops, churches, guard posts, fountains, warehouses, or street lamps.
He reached for the notebook inside his coat.
The carriage rocked gently as his pencil moved across the page.
Beryl District.
Approximately three hundred large residences.
Average evening lighting demand after diversity: three kilowatts each.
Nine hundred kilowatts.
Apex District.
Perhaps one hundred twenty estates.
Larger electrical demand.
Five kilowatts each after accounting for simultaneous use.
Six hundred kilowatts.
Arcada District.
Roughly fifteen hundred modest homes.
Average demand of half a kilowatt each during evening peak.
Seven hundred fifty kilowatts.
He paused.
Already more than two megawatts.
And that was merely private lighting.
Street lighting could consume another three hundred kilowatts depending upon the number and brightness of lamps. Public buildings, shops, workshops, pumping stations, security posts, and future equipment would increase the total further.
Realistically, Oriel would require somewhere between three and four megawatts during evening peak demand.
Possibly more once residents realized they could use electricity for purposes other than light.
The hydroelectric station could provide only a fraction of that.
Arthur glanced through the small front window.
"Everything alright, Master Ernest?"
"Yes."
"You have been staring at the same page for nearly ten minutes."
"I’m calculating."
"That usually means something expensive."
Ernest looked up.
Arthur had spent enough time driving him between factories, estates, and royal meetings to recognize the signs.
"Very expensive."
Arthur nodded once.
"I thought so."
The carriage continued beyond the capital walls and entered the northern road. The crowds gradually thinned while the noise of the city faded behind them. Fields replaced buildings, and the orange glow of scattered farms appeared along the countryside.
Ernest returned to the numbers.
Expanding the hydroelectric station was possible in theory.
The stream carried enough water during portions of the year, but the available head remained fixed. He could install another turbine and increase the intake flow, though that would reduce the stream downstream and create problems during dry months.
A larger reservoir might stabilize supply.
That would require a much larger dam.
More land.
More excavation.
Possible flooding.
Years of construction.
Even then, output would remain limited by rainfall.
The king expected a demonstration soon, not a decade-long river project.
No.
Hydroelectricity alone would not be enough.
He needed another source.
A controllable source.
One that could produce power regardless of weather, rainfall, season, or time of day.
Coal.
The answer appeared almost immediately.
A coal-fired generating station.
Ernest looked out toward the dark countryside while the idea slowly assembled itself.
Coal already powered Helmarte’s factories.
Steam boilers already existed.
The machine works had become skilled at manufacturing high-pressure cylinders, crankshafts, valves, pumps, and heavy flywheels. Coal supply would soon become even more secure once Teucher Mining Company began extraction from the deposits inside his territory.
Almost every major component already existed.
He only needed to connect them differently.
Instead of using steam to operate soap mixers, machine tools, pumps, or saws, the engine would rotate a generator.
Mechanical energy into electrical energy.
Simple in principle.
Large in scale.
The first station did not need to be elegant.
It needed to be reliable.
He opened another page and began sketching.
The generating hall would require at least four independent units.
Not one massive engine.
That would be foolish.
If one giant engine failed, the entire district would go dark.
Multiple units provided redundancy.
One machine could stop for maintenance while the others continued operating.
Three primary units and one reserve.
Each generator rated at approximately one megawatt.
Four megawatts total installed capacity.
Perhaps five if he wanted enough room for growth.
His pencil moved quickly.
Four coal-fired boilers, though shared steam headers might allow flexibility between them. Four compound steam engines, each driving its own generator. Cooling systems. Feedwater pumps. Coal handling equipment. Ash removal. Chimneys. Workshops. Spare parts storage. Control room. Distribution board.
It would not be a small building.
Actually, it would resemble a factory whose only product was electricity.
That description felt accurate.
He wrote it at the top of the page.
Oriel Central Power Station.
The name looked strangely natural.
For location, the edge of Arcada made the most sense.
Land was cheaper there.
The district sat closer to the industrial road and freight routes.
Coal wagons would not need to travel through Apex or Beryl, where wealthy residents would complain about dust, smoke, noise, and the sight of laborers doing useful work.
More importantly, Arcada had access to a wider stream that could provide condenser water and boiler feedwater after treatment.
He could keep the hydroelectric station connected as a secondary source.
Hydroelectricity would carry the base load because water cost nothing once the station existed. The coal plant would handle evening peaks, low-flow periods, and future growth.
Two sources.
One network.
Better reliability.
The king had asked for a demonstration.
Ernest intended to give him something considerably more convincing.
He began calculating fuel demand.
A four-megawatt station operating at full output would consume a substantial amount of coal. The exact quantity depended upon boiler efficiency, engine efficiency, and coal quality, none of which would match modern equipment.
Perhaps seven to nine tons per hour at maximum output.
Around two hundred tons per day if operated continuously at full load.
Actual demand would be lower because Oriel’s peak would occur mainly during evening hours. Daytime consumption might remain below one megawatt at first.
Even so, they needed storage.
At least thirty days of fuel.
Five thousand tons of coal stored near the station would provide a comfortable reserve.
Arthur glanced back again.
"Are you still calculating?"
"Yes."
Ernest continued writing.
Generation station civil works might cost thirty million riels.
Boilers and engines, perhaps forty-five million.
Generators and electrical equipment, another thirty million.
Coal handling, water systems, workshops, and storage, perhaps fifteen million.
Transmission and distribution throughout Oriel would cost even more.
Wooden poles.
Copper conductors.
Glass or ceramic insulators.
Street lamps.
Building service connections.
Switchboards.
Fuses.
Meters eventually.
Thousands of bulbs.
Thousands of trained installers.
The entire project could easily approach two hundred million riels.
Possibly two hundred fifty million if he included reserve funds and future capacity.
It was less than the Royal Capital proposal.
Far less.
But still large enough to consume a significant portion of Teucher Industrial Group’s reserves.
Combined cash reserves stood at approximately four hundred seventy million riels.
Mining and timber operations had already committed one hundred eight million.
The telegraph continued consuming capital.
The machine works expansion required funding.
The merchant consortium buyout remained unresolved.
Electrifying Oriel alone might temporarily reduce their liquid reserves to an uncomfortable level.
He could not fund everything at once without risking the entire group.
That thought slowed him.
For the first time since leaving the palace, the excitement faded slightly.
The project was possible.
That was not the same as saying it was wise.
An engineer could become so focused on proving that something worked that he forgot to ask whether it should be built immediately.
Ernest closed his notebook and looked through the window.
The road passed through Arcada now.
Small homes stood close together along narrow streets. Oil lamps burned near doorways while children hurried inside before darkness fully settled. Several shops remained open, though their interiors were dim and smoky.
This district would benefit from electricity more than Apex.
Apex would treat electric lighting as luxury.
Beryl would treat it as convenience.
Arcada would use it to extend working hours, improve safety, reduce fires, and allow children to read after sunset without wasting expensive oil.
That mattered.
The demonstration could not become another toy for wealthy nobles.
If he built the network, it needed to prove electricity’s practical value.
Street lights first.
Public buildings.
Workshops.
Markets.
Then homes.
Perhaps he did not need to connect every residence immediately.
The king wanted Oriel illuminated, but that did not mean every private house needed full electrical service on the first day.
A staged rollout would reduce cost.
Phase One could power streets, government buildings, public squares, major estates, and commercial areas.
Phase Two could connect ordinary homes once demand stabilized and trained electricians became available.
That reduced the initial generation requirement to perhaps two and a half megawatts.
Three one-megawatt units would be enough, with space for two additional machines later.
Initial project cost might fall closer to one hundred forty million riels.
Still expensive.
But manageable.
The carriage climbed the road toward Beryl District.
From the ridge, Oriel Estate finally appeared in the distance.
Its windows glowed steadily beneath the night sky.
Electric light.
His small hydroelectric station continued working exactly as intended, turning falling water into power while the rest of the district remained illuminated by scattered flames.
The contrast looked almost unfair.
One house belonged to the future.
Everything surrounding it remained trapped in the present.
Arthur slowed the horses slightly.
"Your estate is visible from far away now."
"I know."
"People stop along the road to look at it."
"I’ve heard."
Arthur glanced toward the glowing manor.
"So you’re going to make the rest of Oriel look like that?"
Ernest looked toward Arcada below, then toward the large estates of Apex further uphill.
"Yes."
The answer came more firmly than he expected.
The difficulties remained.
The cost remained.
The technical challenges remained.
But the opportunity was too valuable to ignore.
The hydroelectric station had proven that electricity could work.
The coal station would prove that electricity could scale.
He opened the notebook once more and wrote a final line beneath the rough estimates.
Build in phases.
Hydro for base load.
Coal for reliability and expansion.
Public lighting before private luxury.
He underlined the final sentence.
The carriage passed through the gates of Oriel Estate several minutes later. Roland waited near the entrance while servants stood beneath the steady glow of electric lamps lining the stone path.
Ernest stepped down from the carriage and looked back toward the darkness beyond the estate walls.
Somewhere in that darkness stood thousands of homes, streets, workshops, and markets waiting to be connected.
The king wanted proof that electricity could serve a community.
Ernest intended to give him proof.
But first, he needed coal, steam, copper, workers, and more money than any reasonable fourteen-year-old should ever be responsible for spending.
Roland approached and bowed.
"Welcome home, Master Ernest. How was the meeting?"
Ernest handed him his coat.
"It’s good."
The steward looked toward him.
"Should I prepare the study?"
"Yes."