Chapter 1200 Electrification
October 6, 1915.
Many exhibitors and tourists from overseas have arrived in Dar es Salaam. As time goes by, the East Africa World Expo is finally about to begin. They are arranged or choose Dar es Salaam on their own. Exhibitors and tourists who live in other places have to go to the first town to reach the venue.
There are many ways to get to No. 1 Town, but most people will choose the intercity railway between the two places, which is the fastest and most comfortable means of transportation.
“The Dar es Salaam intercity railway mainly connects the cities in the Dar es Salaam city circle, including the first town, Bagamoyo and Soga city. In addition to Zanzibar Island on the other side of the sea, Pemba Island also belongs to the urban area of Dar es Salaam. However, the two islands and the mainland are separated by the strait, and the railway cannot connect them. ”
"The Dar es Salaam intercity railway is in a circular shape. It is a light rail transportation in East Africa. It is somewhat different from ordinary railways. It is mainly driven by electricity. At present, most of the East African national railways still use steam and diesel locomotives." On the train to the first town, Wang Hailong introduced to General Manager Zhang.
The entire line of the Dar es Salaam intercity railway is an electrified line, and General Manager Zhang also saw the extraordinary features of this railway.
A large number of power transmission devices are built on both sides of the entire line. However, the trains on this line have no smoke. Instead, they rely on an antenna-like device to connect to the power grid.
“Isn’t this just an enlarged version of the tram?” said Director Zhang’s assistant.
Wang Hailong replied: "You can understand it this way. The two do look somewhat similar. In East Africa, the government has been promoting electrification. According to rumors, there is a high probability that the East African National Railway will also be transformed in this way in the future. ”
"Electrification..." Director Zhang noticed this new word and whispered.
Wang Hailong said: "Electrification is a concept developed by East Africans. It is the widespread use of electricity throughout society to replace traditional power sources such as steam. It is regarded by the East African government as an important part of the second technological revolution. . ”
“To this end, East Africa has built a national power grid covering the entire country, using high-voltage power transmission to maintain the stability and efficiency of the country’s electricity.”
“For example, Dar es Sa. About 10% of Lamu’s electricity supply comes from Morogoro hydropower, which is a large market share. After all, Dar es Salaam’s electricity consumption is very large.”
“This involves the non-centralized distribution of electricity. The two mainstream methods of power generation at present are thermal power generation and hydropower generation.”
"Thermal power generation requires energy support, such as natural gas, oil, coal, etc., and these resources are inevitably not available everywhere. For example, Dar es Salaam has very limited energy and needs to import a large amount of energy."
< br>“So a lot of electricity supply in Dar es Salaam mainly relies on imported coal, oil and other energy sources, or from other sources in East Africa. Regional input. "
"The most famous ones are the South Coal Project and the West-East Power Transmission Project."
Coal in East Africa is mainly distributed in the southern region, compared with the Far East in the previous generation. Empire, the main advantage of coal distribution in East Africa is relatively convenient transportation. For example, coal in Mozambique is close to rivers, while coal in South Africa is close to seaports.
The disadvantage is that East Africa obviously does not have as huge reserves as the Far Eastern Empire. East Africa has a lot of coal reserves, but among the large countries with the same level of land area, it can only bully Brazil. Others such as the Far Eastern Empire, the United States, and Russia , Australia, Canada, and India all have abundant coal reserves.
This also shows the strong advantage of the British Empire in the field of coal energy. After all, the latter three are British colonies, and the British mainland is not short of coal. Wang Hailong then introduced: "The coal resources in East Africa are mainly distributed in the southern African region bounded by Lake Malawi. There are rich coal resources around Lake Malawi. Among them, the Lake Malawi Industrial Zone in East Africa relies on local coal energy. ”
“The two most famous cities are Mbeya and Tete. Mbeya is a traditional strong city in East Africa and has always been. The top ten cities in East Africa, and Tete City is a rising star among East African cities, containing the richest coal reserves in the Lake Malawi region. "
"Going past Tete City to the south, such as South Africa. The plateau, Kalahari Basin, southeast coast, and Matabele Plateau are also areas rich in coal. "
"Correspondingly, the area north of Lake Malawi is relatively scarce in coal resources, so East Africa has a relatively poor coal resource. Domestic coal energy dispatch is mainly transported to the north through railways, roads, sea transportation, etc. For example, most of the coal in Dar es Salaam comes from the New Hamburg Port City.”
“In addition to directly transporting coal, there is also an indirect way, which is to directly build a number of thermal power plants in southern East Africa to use coal as energy, convert the coal into electricity on site, and then transport it to all parts of East Africa through the East African national grid. ”
The transportation of coal from the south to the north is very different from the transportation of coal from the north to the south in the previous Far Eastern Empire. The two can be said to be completely opposite in direction, which also illustrates the different energy distribution patterns of the two countries.
However, this does not mean that northern East Africa is completely at a disadvantage. After all, coal is not the only energy source. Northern East Africa has advantages in oil and natural gas. And because of its geographical location, northern East Africa also has an advantage. It is easier to introduce foreign energy to supplement local energy.
After talking about the South-to-North Coal Transmission, Wang Hailong started to introduce the West-to-East Electricity Transmission. Compared to the South-to-North Coal Transmission, the topic of the West-to-East Electricity Transmission is even more worthy of attention.
“The main value of the West-East Power Transmission is the advantages of hydropower resources in East Africa. East Africa is a country with particularly rich hydropower resources. This is closely related to the characteristics of the rivers in East Africa. The regions where East African rivers flow have large terrain differences, so hydropower The potential is huge.”
“This has led to East Africa ranking first in the world in the development of hydropower resources. In areas rich in hydropower resources in western East Africa, the most typical of which is Kasai Province, a large number of hydropower stations have been built. However, Kasai Province has a small population and underdeveloped industry. Its hydropower The resources are very rich, so it is mainly transported to the east through high-voltage transmission. "
Kasai Province belongs to the Congo River Basin, and several important tributaries of the Congo River are within its area. These rivers transition north along the southern plateau. to the Congo Basin.
Kasai Province has a tropical rainforest climate, which means that there is a lot of precipitation in the region, a large amount of river water, and a very even seasonal distribution. Coupled with the complex terrain and large terrain differences, the entire Kasai Province The province alone produces nearly 38% of East Africa's hydropower resources.
Of course, this is only the result of the comprehensive development of hydropower resources in Kasai Province in East Africa. After all, none of the provinces surrounding the Congo Basin lacks such basic conditions, such as Hesse Province, which is located in the Mitumba Mountains towards the Congo Basin. The transition zone is also a tropical rainforest area with equally huge potential for hydropower resources.
Why did East Africa not prioritize the development of Hesse Province but chose the hydropower resources of Kasai Province? One of the important reasons is that the socio-economic development of Kasai Province is too backward.
Hesse Province is indeed a long-standing economic powerhouse in East Africa. It started early in industrial and agricultural construction and has many pillar industries. Therefore, giving priority to the development of hydropower resources in Kasai Province is conducive to economic coordination among East African regions.
For example, after the hydropower resources in Kasai Province are developed, they can be exported to central East Africa in large quantities, supplying central industrial cities such as Rhine City, New Frankfurt City, and Kabwe City, thereby creating a large amount of economic value.
Of course, there is another consideration for the East African government to prioritize the development of hydropower resources in Kasai Province. That is that the early hydropower technology and engineering technology in East Africa were not mature. Building hydropower stations and large reservoirs is not child's play. If the technology is not up to standard, it will cause problems. If a man-made disaster occurs, the losses will be huge.
As Kasai Province is a typical sparsely populated area, the East African government can also relax its hands and feet. Even if a disaster occurs due to the construction of hydropower stations, it will not affect a large number of cities and populations.
(End of this chapter)