An Electric Oppurtunity (Altona and Preoria)

[Altona]

To - Prime Minister Conway of Preoria

Over the last three decades our nation has become a leading developer of nuclear energy. Due to our unique situation of having a small population and a large amount of open space due to our adherence to the faith of Sigynism we believe by the end of 2023 we will be in a situation where we are capable of producing more electricity than our nation requires at parts of the day. As a result we are establishing facilities to use this excess to manufacture hydrogen via electrolysis however that is a relatively long term aim. In the short term we believe we could be in a position to provide the Northern part of your nation with electricity. While naturally we would not cover the whole of the Norths needs we believe we could provide a regular output to become part of your nations mix of energy production and potentially help support your domestic and industrial users. This project would naturally require some co-operation between our two nations and so I would like to invite you to "the Water Palace" just outside the city of Altona to discuss this matter, assuming it is of interest  to you.

Best Regards

King Rutger of Altona

[Sorrel]

Office of the Prime Minister

To - The Office of King Rutger of Altona

The Republic recognizes Altonia as a fellow progressive nation in the pursuit of clean nuclear energy. As it has been our national policy for a significant time to routinely upgrade the fraction of our national grid to become less reliant on fossil fuels and more on our growing nuclear capacity myself and my government would be enthusiastic about pursuing a cooperative nuclear energy policy with Altona. Our current grid produces 35% of our national requirement with a strategic goal of providing 60% grid capacity by 2040, and I have personally pledged an increase of 5% over my time in government and my cabinet is pursuing the possible opening of a number of new plants which should be operational within the next 5 years. Cooperation on this matter to provide an additional source of affordable, efficient and reliable energy to our nation is something I am personally interested in and will no doubt have the support of the Preorian people behind it.

Naturally I would be honoured to accept an invite to your state to meet personally with you and your advisors as to work out a functional policy that will no doubt be a fruitful endeavor for both of us. I shall instruct my staff to begin creating an appropriate opening in the schedule to allow me to attend.

Many thanks,

- Prime Minister Einon Conway -

[Altona]

The Water Palace in some ways was a little misleading. The castle had been built in a medieval style in the later 1700's on a little branch line of sorts on a canal. The Palace was around 15km outside the city of Altona and the canal had once taken charcoal from burners into the city for use in a variety of industries long gone from the Kingdom. The Palace was now one of three Palaces that housed members of the royal family and Rutger rather enjoyed it out here which was why he had called for it to be the location for this meeting. With him was Professor Jozef Thibaun, Head of the Altonan Electrical Syndicate which was one of the two major players in the Altonan nuclear research community. The other co-host of sorts was Dr.Klaus Ragner, head of nuclear research at  The Illumic Shores Technological Institute (ISTI) who had just a few months ago won the prestigious Achkaerin Queen's Foundation Award for Physics. Dr.Ragner had developed a lot of the nations most recent advances and Professor Thibaun was always pleased that Ragner had kept a steady stream of graduates coming his way.

The three men sat in the courtyard on a fine spring morning. The "Water-Gate" opened out onto the canal allowing a boat to dock inside the courtyard and having been collected from the city by the King's brother Prince Lukas it would be up this canal that the Prime Minister of Preoria would arrive. Seeing the approaching motor boat the three Altonans moved to the courtyards quayside to welcome them. As Lukas helped the Prime Minister ashore King Rutger offered his own hand. "We're delighted to meet you Prime Minister." he said with a smile as he escorted her (and any staff) to a waiting table where a fresh pot of dark tea with a chilled mug of cream waited. "May I offer you a tea?" the King asked as he waited for everyone to take a seat.   

[Sorrel]

Prime Minister Conway had a lot to think about during the rather relaxing boat ride in, the fine weather and pristine countryside was a more welcoming sight than his usual commitments in the stifling confines of cities. He was soon looking forward to retirement, after all he was already 54, and this kind of sight was one he could happily get used to once he eventually left office… His thoughts quickly drew back to the point of this trip though, as the boat began slowing down and steering to dock. Walking away with a decisive and productive deal out this meeting would be a major win for his government, especially in the rural north of Preoria, where his party had become less popular over the years.

As the boat docked and he was politely helped onto the shore he offered a quick thank you to the Prince, followed closely behind by his Secretary of State for Energy Louella Claye. The Prime Minister confidently took the King’s hand, “Your Majesty.” He nodded, “That would be most kind of you, and I would like to extend my gratitude again for this most generous offer to have me here, your country and it’s architecture are most idyllic and we have received a great deal of hospitality. Ah yes, and allow me to introduce Mrs, Louella Claye, my cabinet minister who oversees our Government’s energy planning, I’m sure this meeting will be of great benefit to both of us.”

[Altona]

OOC- Sorry for the hold up, hadn't spotted the reply....oops


Rutger poured each person some tea before settling down with his own. "I'm hopeful that today we can conclude some arrangements that will help both our nations. If I may first explain our situation. You see as a Kingdom we a population of just under 9million people, but we are blessed with our huge forest which we believe is sacred. As such we have a lot of open space and no huge desire to remove the woodland, it means we've a large amount of open space with rivers and the such that we can use for energy production. All tasks like mining etc must also restore the environment when done so we're fortunate to be in a position where we've developed technologies that have, in terms of energy production, made it so that we are beyond self sufficient. As such we've become rather effective at nuclear power, both in terms of power stations and even some more creative measures. That costs money however and I intend for us to become a world leader in the technology and application but that requires cash. This is where I believe we can be of service to each other. At the moment we have maybe one day in four where we produce more electric than we need. That I believe will be three in four by the end of this year. That extra power has to go somewhere and I'd like it to be your nation, however you'll forgive me as I'm not 100% familiar with your own energy needs. So perhaps first I should enquire as to whether your nation would be in need of a boost to your power grids production, and if so what kind of a deal you would hope to do if we could solve that."

[Sorrel]

OOC - I missed this somehow and was sitting waiting on a reply lol

Prime Minister Conway picked up the cup of tea, taking a quick sip of it whilst listening intently to his counterpart's proposition. It certainly would make a difference, after grid performance issues lead to a small fuel crisis in the less developed parts of Preoria's north it would be a small price to pay for additional capacity, and might yet ensure the people there don't turn on his party and he doesn't become yet another outgoing prime minister who's reputation is marred by a sudden defeat of his successor.

Louella piped up, "Our state-energy policy has a similar bearing to yours. We also invest significantly in our nuclear energy capacity, but our largest reactor sites are based on our coastal regions in the south, where our more populous regions are. In the North however it has proven economically inefficient to build reactors in areas with sparse population. The majority of our northern energy grid relies on coal fired plants and limited wind and solar production for it's baseload, and a lot of homes still utilize oil-heating based on our 2022 report. This mixture has proven somewhat expensive for our consumers." she finished as the Prime Minister began.

"My government's strategy for the north involves changing this, we can't justify the costs to build the plants but you already possess the necessary infrastructure and as you stated your production vastly outstrips your demand. Personally I would like to expand on this area of discussion as ensuring less heavily invested regions of the Republic have access to the same affordable energy sources that the rest of the nation does is our entire reason for being here." Conway added. "We would also like to discuss the potential for cooperation in our mutual interest in developing more efficient nuclear technology."

[Altona]

 Dr.Klaus Ragner ran  The Illumic Shores Technological Institute (ISTI), the company had done lots of work on small nuclear reactors, even down to the idea of micro-reactors that could fit in the back of a truck. What is seemed the Prime Minister was describing would be ideal for them. He felt he was best positioned to handle the response. "We can help with the reactors in the north in two ways." He began to explain, "The first is a short term response on a small scale. You see we had been asked to make a floating power station for a nation that has defaulted on payment. We had the intention to have them pay a set fee and then we'd regain the rest through monthly billing for the power we produced. It is currently sat in dock in Altona. We would be willing to have it come and tie up on the North coast of your nation, depending on rivers it could even make its way down the river. It is probably only able to provide energy for one town but if like you say a lot of the areas are remote this could be a solution. We would be willing to forego any financial payment up front but naturally would like to be compensated through payments from people's electricity bills just like any other provider would. Now in the long term we could look at connecting into your grid system but that is something for the government to handle not us."

King Rutger nodded, "In terms of infastructure perhaps we could make an agreement that we could install connections between our network and your own. Perhaps with an agreement that we would fund the connections 50/50 on condition though that our electric companies be allowed to sell the excess electricity we produce here at the same rate as your own companies for the next 50 years. This should help our companies continue making money which in turn allows more research and also reassures us that this partnership has longevity."

"In terms of co-operation in developing more efficient nuclear technology" Dr. Thiburn began, "We have the Altonan Electrical Syndicate  and the ISTI that lead our programmes. They are both independent bodies that receive subsidies from central government to get things moving so in terms of developing your own efficient nuclear technology it would depend exactly what you have in mind."