Kalistani Major History

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Collapse of KALENCON opens door for Major Investment in Energy Sector
KalMD, Sulari SunCatchers early leaders in new energy market
Sulari, Duchy of Suldanor
August 19, 5501


New Hybrid Turbine Stations, like this one in Odufaray, may be temporary answer to energy shortfalls as Investment floods into the Market

KALNAPECO is nearing the completion of its dismantlement of KALENCON, and while lawsuits over what is being termed in the KalSie Investment community as "dispossession" are expected to last for years, other longstanding Kalistani companies with significant stake in the newly blown open energy market are signaling serious private investment in the market. Kalistani Micro Divisions (Kalsie: KMD) who has long led the domestic market in microprocessors and consumer electronics, has indicated that they have completed a new round of venture capital for investment in battery storage capacity, and an almost forgotten regional company out of Suldanor, Sulari SunCatchers (Kalsie: SSC) has indicated a dramatic increase of interest in solar and photovoltaics.

"While it was assumed that we had plenty of free energy through fusion generation," said SSC CFO Janet Richardo, "There wasn't a lot of focused attention on photovoltaics. We were happy to hit our margins and have a small dividend year after year after interminable year, suppling a modest amount of megawats to KALENCON. It has been a nice safe part of Grandma's Investment Club's portfolio, you know? But since KALENCON imploded, millions and millions of Rubles have been flooding into SSC, and we've actually had to hire engineers to give us ideas about how to spend it all. Its ridiculous. People think 'put money into something, something grows...' but we've had to unexpectedly, and quite dramatically scale up because there has actually been a lot of market speculation in the last few months, and we're in, probably the best position to do something about this."

SSC and KMD are not the only companies who have experienced a windfall of speculative Rubles in the last three quarters. There are at least a dozen new startups, all capitalized at over ₭50 Million, and all aiming to ramp up production on electric generation machines. "It's a gold rush," said Alison Delgado of the new Vrassan Breezes (Kalsie: VBW), a new start up based in Vrassa City. "People really want to address this energy crisis: they know it is a market that needs to be filled, so there is a guaranteed, and I'd say almost inelastic demand for wind turbines, solar panels and photovoltaics, geothermal generators, and especially batteries: Since the Lithium that KNC has refined over the years was assumed to go into the fusion process, but in fact has just been being stockpiled for centuries, Kalistan is sitting on a mountain of lithium that is going to go into battery technology. KMD is ahead in that game specifically, and probably has done the best of us all, but even small new companies like mine are getting a piece, and that is fantastic!"

Startups and institutional players alike know this boom is really a speculative bubble and are prepared for it. "We aren't blowing all our money on nonsense," said SSC's Ricardo. "Its easy for companies to get a windfall and do stupid things like buy corporate jets and everything. But we know that there is an end in sight for the boom periods, and that will come when all these new companies scale up production and the floor falls out on prices. At that point, the market will be saturated and then we're going to have to lay off people, and then everyone's life will be miserable, except mine. This is the problem with Capitalism, and it is unavoidable. Most of this is happening in the private sector right now, but to our credit, most of the new companies that are starting up are coordinating with KPO to see what needs to be done where and how much. We are looking out for our long term health. The ones who aren't are the ones who will get way richer in the short term, but then will go by the wayside after that. Those of us who are in this for the long haul are working together, because we know that the market is going to be renationalized anyway when KNC is finally gone."

KPO confirmed that it is working with more than 15 companies, including KMD and SSC to determine how best to meet the needs of Kalistani Citizens, business and Industry. One program they have begun is a Hybrid Generation Program which provides banks of solar and wind turbines capable of generating up to 10 kW an hour per unit to cities, communities and rural co-operatives. The Wind Generators in the bank are made by Star Island Wind (Kalsie: SIW), in Ananto, and the solar collectors are made by SSC, with battery storage provided by KMD. Each bank costs about ₭11,350 and can power the energy needs of four and a half homes. 8 banks can fit on an acre of land, including any battery storage and energy transmission facilities.

KPO has indicated that it will cover the materials cost of the banks, and each municipal Government or rural co-operative can apply for up to 100 banks covered by KPO, but labor and maintenance costs will need to be born by those using the banks. "It will put a large burden on municipalities, but it is a quick and clean way to at least begin to address the shortfalls experienced daily by a huge portion of the citizens of this Empire," said Ricardo. The grant is a one time offer, and is meant to not only encourage cities to look into not only long-term (albeit impermanent) alternatives to fossil fuel energy generation, but should give residents a lot of comfort to know that something is being done while Duchy and Imperial Government is developing permanent solutions.

"Meanwhile, we are already producing at max capacity, and a new plant that we will need to build won't be online for two years, at least," said Ricardo. "Meanwhile, other suppliers can be found to begin to meet demand: there are at least three new photovoltaic factories opening in Kalistan Proper alone this fall. There is plenty of money to go around, and I predict that by this winter, we, KMD, and other companies will begin to have a real noticeable impact on the demand for energy. This won't last forever: Eventually everyone will have cheap photovoltaics and wind turbines. And then the money will dry up, both the public and private... So we're gonna do what we can while we can, and make whatever difference we can, taking nothing for granted." Ricardo continued to say that this was a matter of corporate responsibility. "Making money is a side effect to being a responsible corporate citizen, but yes: We're gonna make a LOT of money in the next ten years, and then after that, we'll see."