African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1195 New Energy City

Take the iron ore in East Africa for example. East Africa has quite abundant iron ore resources. From south to north and from east to west, there are basically large iron mines, but coal mines are relatively scarce.

However, East Africa is rich in iron ore resources, but its annual steel production has grown too fast, reaching more than 30 million tons last year alone. This output is ten times that of the beginning of this century. Therefore, East Africa's consumption of iron ore is extremely high, and it has to import a lot of resources from India and the Middle East every year.

So Pasteur thought that if there were iron mines in Western Australia and they were of considerable scale, perhaps something could be done about it.

So he said to Howard, "I wonder if I could see a sample?"

Howard came here to do business, and since Pasteur was interested, he naturally would not refuse.

"Of course, but I left the samples I brought at the hotel. If you want to see the finished product, you have to wait until we get back. But now I would like to visit the industrial area in Dar es Salaam. If Mr. Pasteur is interested, we can discuss it in the evening." Howard said.

"That's good!" said Pasteur.

After all, whether the iron ore Howard mentioned exists, whether it has economic value, and what its reserves and quality are are all unknown.

Compared with Pasteur's uncertainty, Emperor Ernst had full confidence in Western Australia's mineral resources.

However, Ernst does not intend to expose the potential of Australia's iron ore and other resources now. This is also the main reason why East Africa is not vigorously developing Western Australia's mineral resources.

Australia's mineral resources, like East Kalimantan's rich coal and oil resources, are bait in Ernst's hands. They are opportunities to prepare for reshaping the situation in the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean in the future, so the resources of these two places will only be exposed at the appropriate time.

As for Pasteur's business behavior that relies purely on luck, the East African government will naturally not interfere. In fact, private capital in East Africa is just starting now. At least the projects that Howard finds difficult to complete will probably be difficult for Pasteur to complete as well, unless he brings more people together to cooperate.

Because Howard was not in a hurry to return to the hotel and continued to visit the southern port area of ​​Dar es Salaam, Pasteur had to continue to act as his tour guide.

"The place in front with the condensing tower and the big chimney is the Parsim Power Plant. It is an amazing power plant in East Africa. The penetration rate of electricity and electrical appliances is also the highest in the world."

"When the exhibition officially starts tomorrow, it will probably open everyone's eyes. Electrical appliances in East Africa have made rapid progress in recent years, and can even be said to cover all areas such as food, clothing, housing and transportation."

The Parsim Power Plant is the newest power plant built in Dar es Salaam and one of the largest power plants in Dar es Salaam. Ninety percent of the electricity in the entire city of Dar es Salaam comes from thermal power generation, and only ten percent comes from hydropower. Among them, hydropower mainly comes from other regions through high-voltage transmission lines and enters Dar es Salaam.

Therefore, thermal power plants are currently an important pillar of industrial operations in Dar es Salaam, and about 30% of its coal is imported from India.

Obviously, Dar es Salaam is relatively short of energy, but this situation will change in the future. At least with the construction of upstream hydropower stations, it will greatly alleviate the electricity problem in eastern East Africa in the future.

East Africa has enormous hydropower potential, especially in the east, because the difference in terrain where the plateau and coastal plain meet provides many good locations for building hydropower stations.

For example, about 10 percent of the hydropower in Dar es Salaam is sent from the mountain reservoir power station in Morogoro in the west.

Looking at the tall power plant in front of him, Howard exclaimed: "This should be the largest thermal power station I have ever seen. Although Perth also has a power plant, it is like a tiny thing next to the Parchment Power Plant." Perth is the capital of Western Australia and the seat of the Western Australia and East Africa Business Association.

Of course, Perth is just a small city in East Africa. After all, the entire Australian population is only more than four million, and most of them live in the east. So even Perth has only a population of over 100,000, most of whom came here during the gold rush in the last century.

So the city of Dar es Salaam is more than a dozen times larger than Perth, and its industry is more developed, and its electricity consumption is beyond Howard's imagination.

Pasteur said: "The entire city of Dar es Salaam has a population of one million. Just to supply electricity to these people, the government and enterprises have to work hard, and in fact the scale of industrial electricity consumption is even greater."

"In the two industrial areas of Dar es Salaam, electricity consumption accounts for about 78 percent of the entire city. The Palsim Power Plant supplies electricity to hundreds of companies and factories of all sizes in the surrounding area, many of which are energy-intensive."

Howard looked at the factories in front of him and said, "I've also been to London. London has more factories and businesses, and a larger population. However, the environment in London is really not good. The air is filled with smog. Although there is also a lot of smog in the industrial areas of Dar es Salaam, the situation is obviously much better than in London. This is probably related to your extensive use of non-steam power."

Pasteur nodded and said, "Whether it is electricity or internal combustion engines, the pollution they produce is far less than that of steam engines. This is why there are relatively few chimneys in Dar es Salaam."

"Of course, in addition to industry, domestic fuel is also an important factor. Today, East African families can cook by using electrical appliances or liquefied gas, which greatly reduces the use of raw materials such as coal or dry firewood that easily produce a lot of smoke."

"Because of the cooking habits of many families, the biggest pollution in East African families today is probably 'cooker smoke', which is the fumes produced by cooking oil in the country. Therefore, many houses in East Africa now simply use fume ducts instead of chimney designs, or go a step further and use range hoods and stoves."

The picture Howard described to Pasteur is difficult to understand. After all, there is a diversity of cooking styles in East Africa, but the cooking styles of the Far Eastern Empire are undoubtedly the mainstream.

As a British man, Howard doesn't know how to cook, let alone understand the cooking techniques of some countries, so it is difficult for him to imagine the state of East African kitchens today.

But he at least understood what Pasteur wanted to express, that is, the use of both industrial and residential fuels in East Africa is reducing emissions of waste gas, which is why the sky in East Africa looks particularly blue.

Of course, as a coastal city, Dar es Salaam is not prone to accumulation of smog or pollutants. A breeze from the Indian Ocean can make the entire city look brand new.

Howard obviously knew this, so what really surprised Howard was the sewage system in Dar es Salaam.

Pasteur explained: "Dar es Salaam lacks artificial waterways, so it is impossible to see sewage flowing like the Thames in the UK in Dar es Salaam."

"We designed and built the sewage and rainwater treatment systems and underground pipe networks in Dar es Salaam ourselves, and we will make corresponding treatments according to the water quality. For example, there is a sewage treatment plant in the southern part of the port area."

The sewage treatment plant mentioned by Pasteur is actually not very effective. At least it is not capable of dealing with the industrial wastewater of the entire city of Dar es Salaam. Most of the industrial and domestic wastewater in Dar es Salaam is still directly discharged into the Indian Ocean.

Of course, even so, it was enough to surprise Howard, an Australian country bumpkin. After all, many cities did not have sewage treatment plants, at least Perth did not have one, so Howard took it for granted that East Africans valued environmental and ecological protection.

(End of this chapter)