Kalistan

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Emperor announces support for additional energy creation
"Vast renewables remain untapped in Kalistan" says Emperor
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
August 7, 5731


Emperor speaks on Energy Security from Cliff Offices in Kaliburg

His Imperial Majesty, Emperor William II Ananto announced major upgrades and expansions to the nation's energy supply infrastructure. "This week, we have directed our National Assembly to dedicate more than 15 Billion Pesos to the modernization and expansion of our nation's renewable energy stockpiles to address increased demand and to further distance ourselves from our fossil fuel past," said His Imperial Majesty in his weekly televised address from Cliff Offices in southwest Kaliburg. "This will come in the form of expansion of solar, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal generation capacity, as well as the inclusion of newer technologies like wave and tidal energy that will harness the power of the oceans to power our nation's future."

Kalistan currently uses a relatively tiny amount of fossil fuels, mostly in the form of kerosene for jet fuel and diesel which is blended with biodiesel to power specific engines and to test hybrid automobiles for foreign export. "Due to significant past investments, Kalistan is the least fossil fuel-reliant nation on the planet: This was because Kalistan appears to be the only nation to have ever actually ran out of profitably exploitable petroleum, and because we foresaw this, we were able to make a painful but necessary 20 year long shift from exhaustible, polluting fuels to clean renewable and ecologically friendly energy supplies." The Emperor also credited heavy state intervention in the economy to remove profitability as a countervailing and insurmountable obstacle to progress. "If profitability for a handful of shareholders dictated action in Kalistan, our children would be eating coal ash for breakfast and going to work at the age of six. Kalistan is better than that, and we have demonstrated that other nations should also try for better as well."

Currently much of the infrastructure in the nation is localized, and this is an issue. "Nationwide we are at about 80% capacity, which would be fine. But much of that capacity is regional rather than national. It leads to underusage in some places, mostly rural areas, while demand is predictably much higher in the cities. These changes are meant to even this out across Kalistan and Ananto, largely by increasing capacity in rural areas and supplying the power to our cities and towns."

The Emperor called for new solar and wind farms on unused Duchy lands primarily in Odufaray and Suldanor, the construction of 3 new high dams (one each in Suldanor, Vrassa and Ananto), increase of geothermal generation in the Green Mountains and the deployment of tidal and wave energy generation plants in Vrassa, Suldanor and Ananto. "In Kalistan, land itself is in abundance compared to our economic structure. We have plenty of land and we have tried for decades to get people to deurbanize through various policy measures, but for a host of reasons it has not happened. Consequently, we sit on an abundance of land which is underutilized. If we will not build a dedicated gentry to populate our rural spaces, we could nonetheless reap harvests of energy from those lands."

The deal involves a massive direct purchase from companies like Sulari Photovoltaics, whose stock rose on the news in the KalSiE, along with prices of other renewable energy related stocks. "We will focus our spending on Kalistani industries, not only ensuring quality in production, but also providing a large scale public infusion of money that will help these companies across the nation grow to scale. It is our aim to ensure a constant supply to replace older infrastructure as technology continues to advance, and Kalistani companies should not only be able to increase production for domestic demand, but also to begin exporting to the rest of the world. Kalistan is already the world leader in inexpensive and efficient PV production. The knock on effects of this investment will make us world dominant."

Construction of new energy farms and plants will be tasked to the NSP starting in the Spring, and meanwhile, sites will be selected for the three new High dams along the Western Wall range and in the Xanadu Mountains in Ananto. New site for geothermal generation will be scouted in the Green and northern Xanadu Mountains- The Green Mountains currently are home to 16 Geothermal plants, and the area at the center of the Island, while some of the most remote and undeveloped territory in the nation, likely has vast geothermal energy reserves that remain untapped. A geological survey will be conducted in the Spring to find the best places for new construction and infrastructure into the heart of the mountains will need to be built before any new generation stations can be built or manned.

The Emperor said the modernization and expansion project will take place over the next eight to nine years.

@TheRepublic