Great Power Industry: You're a private company building an aircraft carrier?

A gentle night breeze blew, and the Laiyang Steel Plant was brightly lit.

The workers busied themselves transporting the crude steel from the trucks into the steelmaking furnace.

"Engineer Qin, can you really forge excellent P92 alloy steel?" Guo Xiangyang still found it somewhat unbelievable.

"Hmm, the quality of this batch of crude steel is quite good. After our refining, it should be fine." Qin Chuan held the crude steel test report in his hand, looked at the metal material ratio inside, and nodded as he spoke.

"Brother Chuan, I've bought all the rare metals you wanted!" Li Jianshe ran over excitedly.

Now, he's a seasoned purchasing agent; he knows exactly what to buy and where to buy it. If he can't find something, he can just call his father, and he'll be able to find a way.

"Well, one furnace is sixty tons, and the required rare metal contents are..." Qin Chuan didn't finish speaking before quickly writing it down on the paper.

“We’ve always wanted to develop supercritical units, but we haven’t been able to solve the problem of P92 steel. As long as you can produce it, we can establish a long-term cooperative relationship!” Guo Xiangyang continued.

Qin Chuan shook his head: "No."

"What?"

"Currently, we only have this one 60-ton steelmaking furnace."

Qin Chuan said, "We need to refine pen tip steel and high-strength steel cables, so this steelmaking furnace will have to operate at full capacity. We only plan to use the P92 steel ourselves, so we don't have any extra production capacity."

“That’s easy to say,” Luo Rongguang said. “The coastal area is so big, we can build another steelmaking furnace, a 200-ton furnace! China’s No. 1 Heavy Machinery and No. 2 Heavy Machinery can both manufacture them. If you want to buy from abroad, we’ll help coordinate the foreign exchange. As for the crude steel from Anshan Iron and Steel, we have as much as you need!”

Qin Chuan shook his head.

What, still not satisfied?

"A 200-ton furnace is too small; we need at least a 300-ton furnace. However, the furnace itself isn't a big problem; the key issue is the power supply."

Even if it were only because of Li Gang's connections, no one would dare to do anything behind their backs.

However, the power supply problem remains unsolved.

Because there is a nationwide power shortage, and this is a historical problem!

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the power supply has never been sufficient, and people living in rural areas are particularly aware of this, as there are power outages almost every night.

In the event of a power shortage, priority should definitely be given to supplying cities and state-owned enterprises.

They set up a new factory area by the sea in Yangchang. Normally, it's fine to operate rope making machines, welding machines, punch presses, and the like, but if they need to use an electric furnace, especially a 500-ton electric furnace, the power supply definitely won't be enough.

Luo Rongguang didn't dare to guarantee that he could solve the problem.

However, if the power supply problem isn't solved, Laiyang Steel Plant won't be able to produce P92 steel. Without this type of steel, their Bingcheng Boiler Plant won't be able to build advanced supercritical boilers, and therefore won't be able to provide advanced power generation equipment to the country...

This is a vicious cycle!

Guo Xiangyang's face also darkened. What to do? Ask them to hand over the steelmaking technology to Ansteel? What a joke! If he actually said that, he would definitely be kicked out!

In the 1990s, anyone who dared to mention selfless dedication or sacrificing their own family for the greater good would be cursed.

Qin Jianguo, who was standing to the side, also frowned. Yes! This really is a problem!

It's not easy for private enterprises to develop! Raw material issues, energy issues... one after another are looming ahead.

However... given Ogawa's style, he should have already come up with a solution, right?

"Brother Chuan, all the ingredients have been weighed out!"

"Okay, let's stop the preparations here for today. We'll demonstrate it to the French tomorrow. Even if we produce it now, they won't believe it. Don't stop the steelmaking furnace; produce two more batches of steel wire rope! Come on, let's go back to sleep; I'm tired."

After saying that, Qin Chuan yawned.

Are you just going to wash up and go to bed?

Seeing Qin Chuan about to leave, Yu Hongxin quickly said, "Xiao Chuan, there's always a way. Let's sit down and think of a solution to this power shortage problem together!"

"What other options do we have? The power system can't generate that much electricity. Do you expect us to generate it ourselves? The power company's business isn't something just anyone can afford to do."

There is no unified national power grid yet, but power system reforms are ongoing.

This year, the Ministry of Energy, established just five years prior, was abolished, and a new Ministry of Electric Power Industry was established as the top-level structure. At the middle level, five major power groups were formed: North China, Northeast China, East China, Central China, and Northwest China. Which factories receive electricity and how much electricity is determined by these power groups.

Dongshan Province is adjacent to Tianjin, which in turn is adjacent to the capital. Therefore, the North China Power Group will definitely give priority to supplying electricity to them.

Generating its own electricity? Qin Jianguo's eyes lit up. No wonder Qin Chuan wanted his third and fourth uncles to open a coal mine. It could not only smelt iron, but also develop a power plant!

This power generation was definitely part of Qin Chuan's plan long ago, but he didn't say anything, letting these people from the capital offer their help. That's... brilliant!

"Yes, your factory is very strong and can definitely build its own power plant!"

Guo Xiangyang said, "The procedures are not difficult. The higher authorities have already made a decision to allow high-energy-consuming enterprises to build their own power plants and generate their own electricity for their own use!"

Needless to say, the electricity generated by power plants was not only used for their own consumption, but later on, some power plants could sell the surplus electricity to nearby cities at a price that was even cheaper than that of the power companies, at two or three cents per kilowatt-hour. That's why the State Grid was established to unify the national power supply.

“That’s right, you can build a coal-fired generator set, and we’ll help you with the paperwork.” Luo Rongguang nodded.

Although such a policy exists, without connections, the procedures are not so easy to complete.

“That’s right, our Bingcheng Boiler Factory has them ready-made. How big do you need?” Guo Xiangyang was also very happy, this was a great opportunity!

"Hmm, we'll probably need... thirty megawatts!"

How many?

Everyone's eyes widened, even Qin Jianguo was stunned.

The basic unit of electrical power is the watt. In a village, a light bulb is only 15 watts. It's good if a family can light one bulb. In a city, the most common light bulb is a 40-watt fluorescent bulb. Even in a city of 20,000 households, the total power consumption is only 800 kilowatts. Even with other appliances, 1000 kilowatts is only 1 megawatt.

As the number of household appliances increases, the electricity consumption of a medium-sized city is also increasing, but 5 megawatts should be enough, right? Even doubling that would only amount to 10 megawatts!

Qin Chuan has quite the appetite, 30 megawatts!

The Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant has a generating capacity of only 300 megawatts, yet this plant uses one-tenth of the generating capacity of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant.

“The old steelmaking methods are outdated. We need to use advanced high-frequency steelmaking furnaces. Each ten tons requires one megawatt of electricity, so thirty megawatts is exactly three hundred tons.” Qin Chuan said, “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

"Okay, we'll help you with the paperwork, but this equipment..."

"Let's figure it out ourselves!"