These were common in Chilean history. In only one such event, the Santa Maria School Massacre, in one day the Army killed more people (by some estimates) than the total deaths attributed to Pinochet.
Solar Dreams: a history of solar energy (1878 - 2025)
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These were common in Chilean history. In only one such event, the Santa Maria School Massacre, in one day the Army killed more people (by some estimates) than the total deaths attributed to Pinochet.
Yeah, I'm not surprised that the company is extremely exploitative towards their own workers. Having such a large expendable labor pool from the War of the Pacific doesn't exactly help the workers' interests either.
Even if the British do intervene on behalf of the English workers, it only helps a marginal percentage of the labor force there, which really isn't saying much.
Even if the British do intervene on behalf of the English workers, it only helps a marginal percentage of the labor force there, which really isn't saying much.
By Almonte do you mean Pozo Almonte? Nonetheless great TL! I wonder how the british will react about their countrymen deaths. I always believed that northern Chile has an industrial potential, even today it could develop a formidable mining and solar industry.. such a great potential wasted!
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According to my research, Pozo Almonte was known simply as Almonte at the time, so that's the name I'm using.
As for the potential of the Atacama, I am of two minds. On one hand, it is obvious that the place could power Chile by itself, and maybe a good chunk of South America too. With cheap energy, it could industrialize and provide manufactured goods, and is the perfect testing ground for new technologies.
On the other hand... I have zero faith that the government and our upper classes would manage any such effort in a competent fashion. They simply lack the human capital to do so, and see no value in scientific endeavours or are easily swayed by charlatans.
In short, it'd require ASB intervention to make it happen.
And the ASB need to be really powerfull to do that. Our upper class is completely crass, short sighted, uneducated and anti intellectual to do anything more than sell cheap commodities, and I ´m being optimist
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Part 5: The Sun Never Sets
March, 1885
La Moneda, Santiago
President Santa Maria and Anibal Zañartu, his Minister of Foreign Relations awaited impatiently. It was ten past twelve, and the British representatives haven't appeared yet. That was deliberate, and it made both men even more anxious.
It took an eternity of ten minutes for them to arrive, while Santa Maria and Zañartu discussed how to prevent the British from annexing whatever they felt like as compensation for the Navy's shenanigans. The President almost wanted to start one just so that den of Conservatives could get all their ships sunk, which would be a favour to the country.
And, although it was true that he ordered the mobilization of sailors to quell the strike in Almonte, he gave explicit rules of engagement to prevent any bloodshed. They went unheard, and now it might result in even more bloodshed, just as the country was coming out of one war.
An aide announced Sir Francis Pakenham, ambassador to Chile, and Admiral John Baird, commander of the HMS Swiftsure and commander of the Pacific Squadron. Formalities were exchanged, and then they went to business.
"Your boys have caused a bit of a stir back home, Your Excellency." Said Baird, excercising the famed British understatement. "Some papers are clamoring for blood, and now there's a lot of people who want us to humble your country."
"Which you can do, easily enough." Santa Maria admitted.
"Between us, though, I believe that any military action is unlikely... if Chilean authorities cooperate." - Pakenham added. He was a diplomat, and in his mind that meant that he was there to get the results without paying its price in blood. He was congenial most of the time, and was well liked by the local authorities for what seemed like an easygoing nature. That wouldn't serve him now, and so he changed his tone to one more authoritative. - "We will need to investigate the killing of our countrymen. Independently. You will give us free reign to inquire whomever we want in the areas of interest."
- "We can't do that." - Zañartu interjected, sharply. - "What guarantees that you won't abuse that free rein?"
Admiral Baird threw a smile. The Chilean minister had nerve, and he couldn't help but like it.
- "And what do you propose?"
- "The grievances of the British Empire are, of course, legitimate, but we would like a neutral third party to mediate and aid in the investigation."
- "This is... sensible." - The Ambassador admitted. - "Do you have any suggestions?"
- "Either the German Empire, or the French Republic. Neither have significant economic interests in region, which would help them mantain their neutrality."
- "What about the United States?" - Asked Admiral Baird.
- "Relations between Chile and the United States of America aren't the best." - Explained Francis Pakenham. - "They backed Peru during the last war, and would want to take advantage of this."
- "Let's not kid ourselves. We're all trying to take advantage here." - President Santa Maria said jokingly, although it wasn't a laughing matter.
The conversation went back and forth. The Chileans knew they couldn't push too far against the British Empire, and that it was only due to Ambassador Pakenham that Admiral Baird was sitting at La Moneda instead of ordering the bombardment of Valparaiso aboard the HMS Switfsure.
In the end, it was agreed that a joint Anglo-German commission would investigate the events at Almonte.
May, 1885
Almonte, Tarapacá
Mouchot wasn't thrilled to see Rosbifs and Casqués a Pointé merrily working together. He had personal grievances with the formers, and any good Frenchman would dislike the latter on principle alone... even if they were excellent engineers. He didn't understand what the Germans were doing in the middle of the middle of nowhere, but here they were. Anyways, Germans occupying Almonte or not, he had work to do and deadlines to meet.
He had resigned from his job at the TSC the morning after the masacre, as did Serrano. The money wasn't as good since they went independent, but they had enough contracts producing solar collectors to distilleries and water stations to make a comfortable living. And it was much, much more dignified than making lessons to bored students in France. They even had some hired workers.
Still, he knew his invention had much more potential than this.
He was calibrating the mirrors on one of his parabolic collectors. A five meter diameter furnace, rated to produce 350°C between 9 and 18, for a bakery in Iquique. The concentrating lens kept swinging to one side, which was caused by an imperfect alignment of the mirrors.
So he was lost in his job when Serrano entered the workshop which was once his garden. He came with an englishman and what he mistook for a bavarian wurst at first. The english sailor probably served in India, and so he was accustomed to the heat, but the German clearly hadn't experienced anything above 25 before, and it showed.
"Augustin, I present you Lieutenant Commander Damian Cottrell of the British Navy and Dr Klaus Hess."
He greeted them. Coldly.
"Gentlemen, I am a bit busy as you can see, so we might have to make this brief." - he said in French. He expected everyone to understand him.
"Monsieur Mouchot, we are investigating the events at the Tarapacá Saltpeter Company's office and we need to know more about your device. Numerous accounts put it in a central place on the events that occured in February."
"You mean the massacre. And yes, it was my device that made those vampires at the TSC to get greedy. What about it."
"Well, for one we would like to see a demonstration of it working. We've seen it, and Dr. Hess assures me this should work... but it doesn't."
"Figures. Those money grubbing idiots wouldn't bother maintaining it, and now it has stopped."
"Would you care to give us a demonstration of the Mouchot-Louis Boiler?" - Asked Cottrell
"Mouchot-Puig Boiler. This was a joint desing... and I guess I don't have a choice in the matter, do I?"
"No, you don't." - Admitted the Brit.
The offices of the TSC were a shadow of its former self. A platoon of british soldiers were deployed, and only a few workers remained. The stench of death still lingered, and blackened stains remained on the floors. Mouchot felt a bit validated that his machines fell into disrepair and were useless without proper care.
But the boiler itself, that hit him. It was a product of love, it worked cheaply and reliably and all it asked in return was some calibration and adjustment every night. Pipes would need to be tightened, mirrors would need cleaning. The superstructure needed to be redirected. Less than an hour of work for a team of ten, but the bastards still skimped on it. Had it been a coal boiler, it would have exploded long ago. Instead, it grew tired and went to sleep.
Mouchot woke it up, with the help of Serrano and Puig. Not all of it, just enough to demonstrate its operation. Water came on one side, steam left the other.
"This is an impressive machine, Monsieur Mouchot." - Complimented Mr. Cottrell.
"To use the Sun in such a manner... this is indeed ingenious."
"It is. And I wasted fifteen years because you brits flooded our country with cheap coal. If I had been heard back in France, entire factories would be working with the sun." - Mouchot let go. - "But I guess that you'd like to know how this machine resulted in a massacre."
"Actually, it is both. I started as an Enngineering Officer, and I understand enough to see that this device could prove very useful in other places... to be perfectly clear, London will demand dissolution of the TSC, and forfeiture of its assets. This includes any intellectual property, which to my knowledge includes this boiler."
"And you plan to grab them?"
"Yes." Cottrell admitted. "But I understand this is your work and I would like to acquire a license to build your devices. I can see an immense demand for a coalless boiler in Australia and the Sahara, and you are the expert on the subject."
"So you want me to give away part of my life's work."
"Yes." Cottrell repeated.
The Almonte Massacre was a shocking event, once that turned public opinion against the victorious Chilean Navy and shook the whole political class. Given how much of the workers massacred were discharged Army veterans who shed blood for the lands conquered, the Navy was seen as traitors and murderers and thoroughly discredited in the eyes of the public.
Similarly, the Conservative Party was the faction that most energetically attacked the strikers, as evidenced by editorial columns in El Mercurio de Valparaiso. It, too, took a massive hit that resulted in resignations and, tragically, the suicide of El Mercurio's Editor Augustin Edwards Ross for the consequences his columns would bring to Chile. The Liberal Party, in power, also took a hit as it was in the position of defusing the situation but tried to play politics during a time when its legitimacy was heavily questioned.
But, the Public Opinion had its sights set on the Navy and the Conservatives, even more so after London got involved and the prospect of a war became very real. In one act of brutality, the up and coming Republic had discredited itself in the eyes of the world, and it took some clever political maneuvering by Anibal Zañartu (and the diplomatic expertise of Sir Francis Pakenham, who wanted to avoid a war that would ultimately grant the British control in South America to the United States) to prevent further escalation.
While the issue wasn't resolved with it, the joint British-German commission was an important step in venting the rage of the British public opinion. The investigation would be thorough, and involve technical experts to gauge just how much of the testimonials was true.
For the purposes of this work, the Pakenham-Zanartu commission was important in only one matter: it was the first international exposure of Mouchot's work, and the first example of industrial-scale application of solar energy to become known in academic and engineering circles.
It remained a curiosity still, but one that had proven itself to work.
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Oh very nice developments there.
At least the Brits are asking for a licence to make the solar boiler not demanding or simply taking it like they could. Hopefully, this will be the start of something amazing for the planet.
Particularly since the massive oil fields have yet to be found in the Middle East. Can you imagine an Arabia covered in solar mirrors while the oil still sits beneath the land?
At least the Brits are asking for a licence to make the solar boiler not demanding or simply taking it like they could. Hopefully, this will be the start of something amazing for the planet.
Particularly since the massive oil fields have yet to be found in the Middle East. Can you imagine an Arabia covered in solar mirrors while the oil still sits beneath the land?
It probably isn't going to sit there because there's lots of things you can do with oil that you can't (or can't economically) do with concentrating solar, like making plastics or powering airplanes, cars, or ships. But as I mentioned earlier there's a distinct possibility that you'll get solar-powered oil refineries to enable more of the product to be available for export, as opposed to being burned for energy.
I think that oil becoming an important fuel source is difficult to butterfly away, because of its high density compared to pretty much anything non-nuclear.
But, just as solar won't be able to compete with oil in energy density, oil will have trouble competing with solar for thermal and energy production.
And, giving a few spoilers, if you isot'd a man from this tl's 1910s to our 2021 and showed him Tesla's electric storage facilities, he'd look you in the eye and just say "You're using WHAT for energy storage? Seriously?"
Yeah, Chile has a shockingly brutal history in labor relations at this time.
Noted. I don't know what's happening to me that I'm making spelling mistakes I didn't do before. Probably the lack of practice. Also, I'll edit to make it more plausible.
Part 6
Part 6: From East to West
August, 1885
München, Imperial Germany
If Klaus Hess thought that the frenchman was crazy for choosing to live on that sunblasted desert, but he couldn't argue with his results. The Mouchot-Puig boiler provided enough heat to satisfy a large industrial installation without burning a single lump of coal, which was remarkable on itself. But, more important than that, the Frenchman was generating temperatures in excess of those produced by anthracite. It was only a matter of time until he could scale the volume of generated heat, at which point...
... at which point, Hess wasn't quite sure what would happen. Maybe nothing, not in places like the Ruhr or Great Britain where coal was abundant and sunlight was scarce, but on sunnier locations, like Namibia or Algeria? It'd be revolutionary.
Since arriving to Germany, he took action to locate one of Mouchot's early collectors which was captured by the Prussians during the war. Examining it, he saw it was a primitive design compared to the more refined parabolic mirror Mouchot and his Chilean associates had built in the desert, but was better built, produced by experts craftsmen and not whatever local talent they could muster in that forgotten corner of the Earth. Hess spent a week studying the device, taking measurements and making calculations.
By the time he was done with them, he regretted that it was late august, and he'd have to wait a year for his design to be tested.
London, England
Morgan Cotrell always read the letters of his younger brother with delight. They were rife with adventure and exploration, and he was a bit envious for the freedom of responsibilities he inherited from his father. Where his borther had mechanical inclinations, Morgan had a business sense and a strategic mindset that served him well. And when started reading of this "fire-less" boiler in the Atacama desert, he threw a chuckle at his brother. He went on, endlessly, on the technical aspects that it's inventors had provided, and how it could be of immense value on places like Egypt and India. He even included a blueprint of one of Mouchot's earlier designs, which the french engineer had provided after reaching some sort of deal with Damian. He didn't have much faith on the design, and believed that the idea of powering anything with the sun when coal was easily within reach was silly, but he also knew to trust the technical knowledge of his brother.
And if it resulted in something, perhaps it could be a new business opportunity?
Santiago, Chile
The mood in the Presidential Office in La Moneda was grim. Pakenham looked at President Santa Maria with a bit of empathy, as much as his duty to the British Empire allowed. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Colonization was distraught, reading the document once more in disbelief. Admiral Baird wasn't too keen on the prospect, either, but he also had a duty to uphold.
- These terms are... harsh. - Zañartu said.
- Your forces spilled British blood, Mr Zañartu. These are the best terms you will get from London. - Pakenham replied.
- You'll effectively leave us without a Navy for a decade. - said Santa Maria, with a defeated tone in his voice.
- That's not quite true, your Excellency. The naval terms ban the purchase of new naval assets for ten years. You'll still have enough forces to defend yourselves... and we will a have a force to ensure that neither Peru or Argentina attempt anything while the treaty is in effect.
- And what happens if London changes its policy?
- Well, your Excellency, you should have thought about that before firing upon our citizens and staining British honour. - Baird said, having little patience for the Chilean's victim act. - And humbling your country could be done with paper and ink, which takes time but is cheaper, or with gunpowder and lead, which is quicker and more expensive.
- You know that we could put up a fight, right?
- Perhaps, but we both know the result of that fight, and thus we know you won't. These are the best terms the Republic of Chile will ever get.
- Besides that, we will demand the forfeiture of assets of the Tarapacá Saltpeter Company, and guarantees by the Chilean government that individuals in managerial positions can be easily reachable, and upon request, handed over to British authorities for judgement... I hope this point proves less contentious than the previous one. - Ambassador Pakenham said, hoping to defuse the situation created by his... "inexperienced" colleague. - The assets of the TSC are to be liquidated after British authorities have seized any asset it so wishes, individuals employed by the TSC or their known associates will be banned from purchasing them. 15% of the funds gathered will be directly provided by the Chilean government to the families of those killed, which will also be obliged to cover the funeral costs and any financial distress caused by their deaths. The Chilean government will also offer personal apologies to each of the victims' families.
Almonte, Tarapaca
Cosntantino Serrano could see why Mouchot was unhappy with the discussion they just had, specially after Puig came in favour of the idea. It went against the direction Augustin wanted to go, and he felt it was a bit of a betrayal, but he understood that it made business sense. And, realistically, they didn't have the resources to go in that direction unless they improved their income. Constantino wasn't happy with this discussion, as he considered Augustin a friend and had picked his vision for a future powered by the sun.
But those dreams meant nothing if they couldn't fund them. So they needed a product that could be sold in large quantities.
- Bueno. - Said Mouchot, not even realizing he spoke spanish. - But on one condition: We'll also develop a variant for use in sanitation and pasteurization. I am not a mere plumber, and I didn't come to the end of the world to work on a water heater.
- What's so bad about being a plumber? - asked Puig.
- Oh, nothing. I didn't want to imply that there's anything bad about it. It's just that... I've had bad experiences in the past with people thinking my ideas don't have any future.
- And we're not saying that. - Serrano said. - We believe in our work, but right now we need to build something that will allow us to expand.
- And you think this is it?
- Yes, that's why we're having this conversation! It might not be the most romantic use, but if we can provide an affordable water heater, every homeowner will want to install one. You must acknowledge that, at the very least.
- What about my request? If we're going to heat water, we might as well provide something valuable.
- I... think that's completely reasonable. It's just an expansion of the idea, anyways. Might land us some good contracts, too. - Puig said.
- Very well, let's get to work, then.
It remains a point of contention among historians if the Tarapacá Crisis furthered or stunted the development of solar energy production. Although Mouchot and company made some progress and profit free from the demands of the TSC, it would take some time to return to the industrial levels of heat generation required by saltpeter processing, and they were forced to look onto other markets to remain a profitable operation. Mouchot's research required a solid stream of funding, and without the good salaries provided by the TSC, that research became markedly slower.
However, the Tarapacá Saltpeter Company had no intention to provide funds to research further applications of solar energy, and it is suspected that Mouchot would have too many obligations with it to do much progress in his studies and experiments.
What is not in dispute is that the crisis of 1885 provided a hundred times more exposure for his solar collectors than the Universal Exposition of 1878. It was this exposure that inspired further experimentation in the German Empire, and attracted curious British investors to develop their own "fire-less boilers". The Mouchot-Puig boiler was proof that solar energy could be harnessed for industrial purposes, and people in the center of the world were starting to realize that.
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So, cheap sources of power in otherwise backwater colonies. This seems it could have significant impacts on how they develop- more industrial development there than OTL? I wonder what the impact on the natives will be...
The way I see it, solar collector technology will result in a sort of "Economic Tropic", a limit where coal and fossil fuels can't economically compete in terms of sheer heat generation against solar energy at any time of the year.
By the same token, there will be an "Economic Artic Circle" where solar production is just impractical.
And this technology will absolutely have an effect on colonialism. Having a viable energy source that's much less dependent on logistics will change the dynamic of 20th century colonialism.
