Chapter 737 - 340: The Possibility of Surpassing France

The steel production of France, though surpassing Spain, only reaches over 600,000 tons, just a little more than Spain by about 100,000 tons.

Considering the growth rate of French industry in recent years, even if Spanish industry cannot overtake France in five years, it should basically be on par with France, with the gap within 50,000 tons.

Of course, in terms of pig iron production, France still slightly leads Spain. However, France’s lead relies more on its larger population and colonies, and this lead is continuously being narrowed by Spain.

In the chemical industry and other industries, France also maintains a slight lead. But during the Second Industrial Revolution, the French clearly fell behind Spain.

Spain did not have much industrial foundation in the First Industrial Revolution, but this is not entirely a bad thing. The First Industrial Revolution was more about basics, and as long as Spain could keep up with the Second Industrial Revolution, it could compensate for the shortcomings of the First Industrial Revolution.

As it stands, Spain can no longer be said to be just catching up with the Second Industrial Revolution; it is one of the leading countries of the Second Industrial Revolution.

Especially in terms of electricity, the City of No Sleep was pioneered by Spain, and large-scale power generation equipment was also spread to European countries from Spain.

Although, at present, various European countries have shown significant progress in power generation and electricity applications, as a former foundational nation, Spain’s achievements in electricity are considered top-notch in Europe.

Even though Spain’s population is not as large as other European countries, Spain currently still ranks among the top in Europe in terms of power generation and per capita electricity consumption.

Currently, in Madrid and Barcelona, over sixty percent and fifty percent of factories, respectively, have adopted electrical equipment.

These two most industrially developed cities in Spain also reflect the current application of electricity in Spain’s industrial sector.

Compared to industrial electricity usage, residential electricity usage is somewhat lagging behind.

Even in Spain’s two most developed cities, the number of households that can access electricity is only about one-third of the total number in these two cities.

This achievement was only possible after continuous updates to power generation equipment and the consequent reduction in electricity costs as the power generation capacity increased.

Compared with Spain, the electricity usage in other countries is even worse. Even in the capital cities of the European Powers, very few countries can achieve an electricity coverage rate higher than one-third.

Currently, the two capitals with the lowest electricity coverage in Europe are Russia’s capital, St. Petersburg, and France’s capital, Paris.

It is quite normal for St. Petersburg’s electricity coverage to be low, since the Russian Government does not have much money to invest in electricity infrastructure, and the current electricity supply cannot support Russia’s vast territories.

The low electricity coverage in Paris also has its reasons. Compared to Berlin, Vienna, and Rome, Paris has a larger population, which makes achieving higher electricity coverage more challenging.

Even though many wealthy merchants and capitalists in Paris enjoy electricity, a large number of civilians and the middle class cannot access this new form of energy in a short time.

Furthermore, the French Government has been investing less and less in the Industrial Revolution, and French factories are unwilling to adopt electricity to avoid increasing their costs.

This has resulted in France, clearly one of the Four Great European Powers, lagging behind many European Powers in terms of electricity usage and coverage.