章節 160: Dams and hydroelectricity

Winter slowly gave way to spring. If county of Albania sat in between the equator and the Tropic of Cancer, than Friendship Valley was north of the Tropic of Cancer.

Winters were cool not cold, and summers were hot, but not sweltering. Spring was a perfect 13 to 15 degrees celsius.

The flowers buds were showing, but yet to boom. Today was a perfect day to start Will's latest project.

Will rode his horse lazily along the river. Will grew up in the suburbs as a child, but all he ever wanted was to move to a large city.

Ever since he left his childhood home Will made his home between New York City and London.

Rural life, never appealed to him…even now. Many people might look at nature and see God's hands at work. Will saw land to be developed.

Will owned several global property management and construction companies. The little Will knew about nature due to legally mandated environmental studies governments required before building.

Most governments mandated an environmental study. New construction had to pay an agency worker to examine how this new building of factory might impact the local ecological system.

That's right, Will's companies has to pay for a report themselves! Moreover, if the report identified something, the entire project budget might get canceled or turned into a political shit storm!

While most environmental consultants could be bribe, there were some self righteous eco warriors who actively sought to undermine companies.

On a few occasions, Will had some expensive projects shuttered because 'it might' affect the reproductive population of fish or endanger an animal. Public outrage, was enough to cancel most projects.

That's why Will walked south along the river, about a day's ride from Gadreel.

According to a water mage, the river that split Gadreel in two began in the northern mountains the Dwarves called home.

The melted mountain ice was responsible for all the rivers and underground aquifers in Fermion.

The Friendship River, as if was know, began as an underground aquifer in the north and travel south to the valley becoming a stream.

The valley's western snow capped mountains also created streams and rivers.

The wide roaring Friendship River was the conjoining of the two mountains' runoff.

Will walked down river, stopping around 12-kilometers south of Gadreel.

Will choose to build the dam south of Gadreel to not mess with local eco system.

'The irony of it all,' Will chuckled to himself.

Will stopped and looked around. The lumberjacks had not cut down trees this far south. It was peaceful, serene, and untouched.

Earlier, as Will rode he saw lots of felled trees and tree sampling planted. He was glad, he created a Forestry Department.

In the future, the Forest Department would be responsible for the new lake.

After all dams have one of the most important water resources. Dams were a positive trifecta of providing: renewable energy, recreation, and a stable drinking water supply.

The first thing, Will did was create two spillways, or small offshoot rivers, to redirect Friendship River.

After the river diverted, Will began to raise the land around the river, to create the reservoir, while lowering the riverbed outside the dam.

Will used his [Arcane Blacksmith] to coated the bottom, sides, of the reservoir with sand, then rock, and family concrete.

After Will finished he plan the reservoir would have a surface area of 17 kilometers squared. Compared to the Hover Dam or Three Gorges Dam, this dam was tiny.

Next, Will completely blocked the river, sending all the river water into the spillways.

With this Will began to construct the dam. He raised a gigantic cement dam with a, three intake pathways or penstocks guide the river water down the dam, to a turbine generator, into to the awaiting river bed below.

Will could see fish, turtles, and other river animals either being rushed down the spillways, or flopping in the empty riverbed below.

So far the process has been relatively easy.

However, constructing a turbine generator would be much harder. Actually, the turbine was easy, the generator would be difficult.

On Earth, Will had been to a few dam grand opening ribbon cuttings. He toured new dams and was explains every aspects about them.

From these tours, and other power plants, Will knew generator's rotator spins creating negative electron, electricity.

After crafting a Dwarven Steele turbine, Will created generator's rotor by wrapping it in meters of copper. As the generator spins, it would produce an alternating current.

Attached to generator were copper wires use to transport the electrify to Will's manor, where'd built a substation.

Instead of consulting Bradley, who was hard at work on building a train engine, Will decided try to build this own his own.

Not to mention no one on this plant had heard of hydrology and hydromechanics, except him. Furthermore, dams were not ordinary engineering buildings.

Will could pass most projects off on his creativity or an improvement on existing technology.

For example, inventors in Terra had long tried to build airships, and rail lines had long been invented by Dwarves.

However, no one on Terra had sought to create electricity. This was a clear case of Will using his otherworldly knowledge.

Electrify was a new discovery, dams were not. Most dams were earth creation to manage flooding. But, attaching a turbine and generator to a dam to create electricity that had yet to be conceived.

Once people understood about electricity, it would be a huge achievement for civilization.

Not only would Will's dam serve to create electricity, it would also serve as a bridge. Will also left the top of the dam open in case the river floods.

After finishing, Will thought the dam looked nice. Or a least like a dam he'd visited before.

Now to see if the dam worked. Will closed spillway, and watched the river crash against the dam. The dam held steady. Even better, Will saw the generator spinning.

Using [Arcane Blacksmith], Will made an incandescent light build.

"Okay moment of truth," Will said holding the copper electrical lines to the bulb…but nothing happened.

"Okay, let's keep testing?" Will said to himself out loud.

After six days, and thousand of tries later, the power plant came on line.

Will spent several long days and longer night trying to get the hydroelectric plant online. By, the time Will figured it out, he had pulled to all-nighters.

Yet Will was determined to see this project through. He knew the economical, social and cultural developments of Gadreel would improve if he could only bring that dam functional.

After making sure the power plant was a success, Will slowly waked home, instead of teleporting as he had done days before.

As Will walked home, he cast copper power lines and enclosed the wires in clay pipes.

Will looked haggard. The city guards saw Will and immediately thought he'd just escape a bandit raid.

The captain at the angelic gate entrance, immediately reported the situation to Bubba, the Commander of the City Lord. Soon Bubba and a squad of city guards ran to intercept Will.

"Milord, are you okay?" Bubba said very concerned.

"I'm fine, I'm just working a project," Will yawned.

"Milord, may I assist you with anything?" Bubba said, sad to see his beloved boss looking exhausted.

"Escort me home Bubba?," Will asked.

"Of course milord!" Bubba said, ordering his men to stand guard around Will as he walked down Main Street.

Eventually Will made it to his house and built a substation. He hide the substation near his garden.

After he finished the substation, Will walked to his bed and fell asleep.

The next morning, Will slept until noon.

"Michael, send April to my room," Will ordered.

"Master Will, Lady Elizabeth asked April to stay in Yorkshire to close the house before coming down here. I imagine, she should be here any day now," Michael said, not knowing April was already back in his parent's barony.

"Okay, let me know when she arrives," Will said.

"Yes, master!" Michael bowed and left.

After a lunch Will, checked on substation.

Thankfully, Will detected electricity in the substation. He was worried, he'd have to retrace his steps, to check the subterranean clay pipelines.

Now, that Will had a hydroelectric power plant, the next step was adding lights to the garden, house, and the factories owned by the bourgeoisie.

Will smiled and got work. He was thrilled to move onto his next project wiring a house. Will felt confident he could wire the house, but had no idea how to build an electrical panel and breakers.

In his youth, Will was obsessed with Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, John Rockefeller because they owned modern utility monopolies.

To monopolize a nation-wide utility was Will's greatest dream as a child. Now, he was so close to fulfilling his childhood dream.

Right, now there was no demand for electricity. But electricity would be synonymous with light. When that happened this dam would enhance his prosperity and hopefully start a industrial revolution.

Even better, more second, third, and fourth noble sons would join the group of young bourgeois noblemen.

To create demand, Will would have to pick the perfect time to pique the interest of those wealthy jealous nobles. Even better the opportune moment was fast approaching.