Chapter 267: Chapter 242: Expansion of Assets_2

At present, thermal power generation is still the most widely used in Australasia, while hydropower is in the testing stage.

Of course, the reason for all this is that Australasia has abundant coal resources and doesn’t face the problem of mineral resource shortages faced by other countries. The term “mineral resource shortages” doesn’t even exist in Australasia’s dictionary.

The reservoir that Arthur inspected is located on the Timert River in New South Wales, so this reservoir is also called the Timert Reservoir.

This is a large reservoir for solving the water problems in New South Wales and the surrounding area of Sydney, and it is also equipped with hydropower generating devices, making it the first hydropower station in Australasia.

As early as the establishment of the Power Research Lab, Australasia had a clear electricity standard, which is 220 volts.

Together with other industrial electricity standards, Australasia has now established a relatively complete electricity system, and electric lights and power have gradually entered the homes of many Australians.

Not to mention, Arthur’s Sydney Palace is definitely one of the currently best-equipped palaces in terms of electricity deployment.

At the moment, crystal lamps carved from various crystals can be seen within the Sydney Palace, and the lights at night are colorful and beautiful.

Thanks to the increase in per capita income, Australasians are no strangers to electric lights.

The vast majority of Australasia’s industries have been established in recent years, adopting all new types of industrial equipment.

This has led to Australasia’s industries requiring a large amount of electricity, rather than still relying on steam equipment from the Industrial Revolution, like Britain’s industries.

At present, in all states of Australasia, large and small thermal power plants have been established to supply electricity to major cities.

Even in Australian Timor, there are plans for the construction of small thermal power plants, but the earliest completion will not be until next year.

If you want to talk about the region with the best electricity deployment at present, it must be the Capital Territory where Sydney is located.

The Capital Territory has two thermal power plants internally, one large thermal power plant to supply electricity to the industrial area, and one medium-sized thermal power plant to supply electricity for domestic use.

And the Timert Hydropower Station is Australasia’s first exploration in the field of hydropower generation.

At present, streetlights in Australasia’s major cities have been gradually replaced with electric streetlights, although this is a test for the power system, it’s not too much of a burden.

Australasia’s electricity system is composed of the National Power Company and the Power Research Lab.

The National Power Company is jointly owned by the royal family and the government, with the government holding 50.01% and the royal family holding 49.99%.

The Power Research Lab is wholly owned by the royal family and is part of the Royal financial group.

After years of hard work, the Royal financial group has now grown into a giant in Australasia, controlling sectors such as finance, industry, military industry, shipbuilding, mining, electricity, petroleum, investment, medicine, food, and so on.

It can be said that even without Arthur’s military power and reputation, the various industries controlled by the Royal financial group are enough to ensure the stability of Australasia’s royal family.

This is also a trump card that Arthur left for his descendants. Even if the future ruler loses their military power, they can still be a powerful ruler as long as they don’t court disaster.

As long as the future successor, like Arthur, values their reputation among the people and continues to operate and maintain it, the position of the Australasian royal family will not be lost.

Of course, there must be other reasons for Arthur to personally inspect the Timert Hydropower Station.

The large reservoir where the Timert Hydropower Station is located guarantees water supply for the Capital Territory and parts of the cities in New South Wales and is part of the solution to Australasia’s water resource issues.

At present, the government plans to build at least ten large reservoirs like the Timert Reservoir, which, along with other large and small reservoirs, would be enough to meet the water needs of Australia’s population up to 40 million people.

And currently, Australasia’s population is just 7 million, far from reaching 40 million.

After inspecting the reservoir, Arthur immediately rushed to the military factory to watch the testing of the improved model of the MA-96 Maxim Machine Gun, the MA-107 Maxim heavy machine gun.

After more than a decade, the military factory finally made some improvements to the Maxim Machine Gun, slightly increasing the output frequency of the gun, and to some extent, reducing the weight of the machine gun, alleviating the burden on logistics.

More importantly, the slightly smaller Maxim heavy machine gun can be better installed on motorboats and airplanes as their main attack weapons.

And since Arthur started researching tanks, the weapons for future tanks have also been a headache for the mechanical research lab.

The future tanks must have a cannon and a heavy machine gun to meet Arthur’s expectation of high firepower.

Imagine what a spectacular scene it would be if tanks appeared on the battlefield in advance, covered with thick armor and equipped with cannons and machine guns to face the enemy’s infantry and cavalry charges?

When the enemy’s cavalry attacks a tank with cold weapons, they will understand how desperate the change that technological crush brings to the army can be.