Chapter 448 - 204: Self-Sufficient (Part 3)

Chapter 448: Chapter 204: Self-Sufficient (Part 3)

The power engineers quickly got to work.

After removing the electricity meter at the storage center, they went to the self-built house next door and removed its residential meter as well.

As they worked, one of the power engineers spoke up, sounding puzzled. "Brother Du, something isn’t right! Where is their electricity coming from?"

"..." Du Guobao frowned. He looked around but didn’t see any solar panels.

As for wind turbines, Du Guobao didn’t even consider them. Although this was the suburbs, the area was crowded with residential buildings and factories, making a wind power project impossible.

Once the meters were removed, Du Guobao led his men back to the storage center’s office building.

Hearing Du Guobao’s question, Li Haitao smiled and explained, "This is our company’s new technology, a microbial fuel cell. The battery rooms are on the first through third floors below us."

"A microbial fuel cell?" Du Guobao was completely baffled; it was the first time he had ever heard of such a technology.

However, a younger power engineer standing nearby, who had formal training in the electrical field, had heard of microbial fuel cell technology. "Brother Du, to put it simply, this technology generates electricity through the various activities of microorganisms. But its efficiency is extremely low, and it’s still in the laboratory stage."

Du Guobao asked, "Manager Li, would it be convenient for us to take a look?"

After a moment of thought, Li Haitao nodded. "You can, but you’ll have to stay outside the generation rooms to avoid bacterial contamination."

"We’re just curious. A look from the outside is fine."

They went down to the third floor.

The electrician, Old Fang, was in the control room.

Hearing a knock, he stood up and opened the door. "Manager Li? What’s going on? Is there a problem with the meter?"

Li Haitao shook his head. "No, these engineers from the power supply bureau want to see the generation room. Why don’t you give them a brief tour?"

"A tour? No problem." Old Fang looked at Du Guobao and his team. "What would you like to see?"

"What’s the output of this generation room?"

"Maximum output is 36.5 kilowatts."

Du Guobao and the others examined the equipment and the relevant data in the control room. They confirmed that it was indeed power regulation equipment and the data seemed correct.

This left them completely astonished.

The generation room on the second floor could be observed via surveillance cameras.

"Is the generation room only on the second floor?"

"Yes, just the second floor."

"The area isn’t that large..."

Li Haitao said with a smile, "It’s about 400 square meters. However, the five generation rooms themselves take up 300 square meters. The rest of the space is for corridors, stairwells, disinfection channels, and locker rooms."

Du Guobao could estimate the area with a single glance; he was more curious about another issue. "How stable is your power generation system?"

"Very stable. The output can be adjusted at any time, anywhere from 0 to 36.5 kilowatts. However, each adjustment requires a buffer period of about half an hour. We use lead-carbon batteries for temporary load balancing."

"Are the control conditions difficult?"

"Not at all. We can control it using air conditioning and LED lights."

Du Guobao’s eyes filled with astonishment.

The power engineer who knew a little about microbial fuel cells rubbed his nose. "If the power output is truly controllable, then this technology is incredibly useful."

"I wonder what the cost is?"

Li Haitao explained the details effortlessly. "For our internal use, not counting R&D costs, the equipment, consumables, and maintenance add up to about 0.1 yuan per kilowatt-hour. As for labor costs, that depends. The larger the scale, the lower the labor cost. For this particular generation room, our labor cost is about 0.375 yuan per kWh."

In contrast, for a power station next to something like a dairy farm, the labor cost is just 0.02 to 0.05 yuan per kWh.

In fact, for a small generation room like this, the maximum number of battery units a single electrician can manage is 1,000, which involves changing the battery fluid for 3 to 4 units per day.

For a large-scale microbial fuel cell power station, with various auxiliary equipment, one person can manage tens of thousands of battery units.

This is the effect of scale.

Du Guobao felt the labor cost for this generation room was on the high side. "This labor cost is a bit high! By that calculation, your cost per kilowatt-hour comes out to 0.47 yuan."

"You can’t calculate it that way. We’re just allocating the electrician’s labor cost to the power generation cost. Our storage center needs an electrician on staff anyway. Besides, this isn’t the limit for our generation room. If we just double the scale, the labor cost will drop by 50%," Li Haitao continued.

"Our company ran tests at our R&D base at headquarters. Without auxiliary equipment, one employee can manage a maximum of 1,000 battery units. With the help of auxiliary equipment, the maximum can reach tens of thousands of units, bringing the labor cost down to about 0.02 to 0.05 yuan per kWh."

"Economies of scale?" another power engineer mused thoughtfully.

Li Haitao smiled and nodded. "Yes, exactly. Economies of scale. Once we finish renovating the office building next door, this entire seven-story building will be converted for power generation. At that point, we’ll be able to install about 750 battery units."

"You won’t be able to use all the power you generate, will you?" Du Guobao thought of this problem.

"We’re planning to open a charging station nearby, which will help us earn some extra money. Of course, we’ll expand the scale gradually. We won’t jump to 750 battery units all at once."

"I see. If it’s to support a charging station, then that’s actually a great idea."

"Indeed, if this thing can really regulate power output so safely and conveniently, I think it could definitely be considered for use in a power dispatch system."

The power engineers began discussing it animatedly amongst themselves.

In fact, as they were discussing it, Southern Power Company had already dispatched a team to Shanmei to investigate Hailufeng Company’s microbial fuel cell technology.