Rota's New Reservoirs
Before we start, here's the replies to my fourth entry commenters:
@89James89 Thank you! The map I'm using is partially terraformed, the basic map being Berchtesgaden, courtesy of Blunder. It features an alpine valley in southern Germany. I reduced the vertical scale, added the water bodies and modified mountains to facilitate construction of settlements with scenic backdrops. I later expanded it to the east, where I'll be putting much of the modern infrastructure of my region.
@Simmer2 Thanks for the feedback, it's really appreciated. The thing with Castle Rockford is that it's perched on a rocky outcrop from a minor summit that goes beyond the tree line and grass growth line. If anything, I'd decorate it with gravel, rocks and scant weeds, you'll love the result once I re-visit Rockford for its future plans.
@kschmidt The thing with the Kingdom of Rota is that it seems inspired in a small Germanic state of the Middle Ages, located in the Alps. This makes for some very nice opportunities to fortify mountain areas, typically from hills or small mountains overlooking a flatter region, or at mountain passes. Rockford is actually next to a mountain pass., as you'll see from the images of this entry. And don't be afraid to experiment with your regional topography and terrain mods, mountainous regions provide numerous opportunities for wonderful scenery, creative construction and activities that would be difficult or absent in flat terrains.
And now back to our regular programming!
Mew: Nyah-nyyaaah!! Mew-mew-mew, miu-mew nyah-mew. Nyah-mew-mew!
(Translation: Hi everyone! The Queen and Jenny are still having lunch. But rain is coming!)
Mew: Miu? Nyah-myah-myah, myah-mew myah-nyah-miu!
(Translation: See? Here they are, at the Rockford Tavern and Inn!)
Queen Ilene: My goodness, this venison roasted with meadow herbs and cheri berry sauce is amazing! I Wonder if we could add it to the menu of the royal banquets...
Jenny Salisbury: Your highness, I just got a reply from the engineers supervising the reservoir projects, they would like us to visit the new reservoirs, they're undergoing testing of their systems before their definitive inauguration. Since we're close to them, shall we return to the Palace and inspect them on the way back?
Queen Ilene: Sure! Thank goodness the reply arrived just in time. And how's the weather outlook?
Jenny Salisbury: We better hurry, it's around this time with the looming rain clouds gather for their evening deluge. Might as well save the leftovers to take back to the palace!
Queen Ilene: Agreed. Let's get ready to show our viewers these new and nifty facilities!
Just as we paid and left the Rockford Tavern and Inn, rain clouds started engulfing the landscape. They started pouring over Nida, the town downhill from Rockford, which gave us some time to resume our journey towards the new reservoirs.
We go east along the Rockford pass and into the upper reaches of Lake Diamond, one of two new reservoirs on the far east side of the Kingdom. Just like in Nida and Rockford, rain clouds start to gather in the sky above us, we arrive just in time to have Mew provide us with a mostly clear view of the area.
The mountain pass is a valley with steep sides and the only portion of terrain below the snow line. During the times of old, the invading red army controlled this area and projected its power from Castle Rockford, which they could supply reliably from this side.
We barely reach a hamlet along the way to the reservoir before the clouds completely cover us, it seems so peaceful and solitary, although too far from a proper city for my comfort.
Then the clouds start to spill their watery entrails over the landscape. I really now get why the engineers were so insistent on building the reservoirs here, there's a very plentiful water supply from the sky, as well as glaciers upstream from the reservoir site!
Jenny was shouting at our chauffeur to go slower, as the fog and wet pavement made for some difficult driving along the winding lanes! As for Mew? He seems happy as ever, whether the sun shines or the rain spills.
We reach the dam and the upper part of the first hydroelectric facility of our tour: the Lake Diamond Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Power Station. As one of the supervisors tells us, the beauty of this system is using two reservoirs at different elevations as a mechanical battery. When there's more power demand, they empty the upper reservoir through the plant, filling the lower reservoir. When there's less demand, the excess power from other generation systems is used instead to pump the water up into the upper reservoir, thus balancing demand with supply.
The lower reservoir of this arrangement corresponds to Lake Pearl, which itself has its own newly constructed hydroelectric system emptying at Ingena. We'll get there later.
Mew gets ahead of us and visits three waterfalls just downstream of Lake Diamond. They seem so much smaller nowadays compared to how they were before this huge construction!
Mew: Nyyyyaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!
(Translation: Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!)
Jenny Salisbury: Just how big is this facility?
Supervisor: Lake Diamond has a dam that's 150 meters (490 feet) tall, the reservoir itself is 135 meters deep (440 feet), covers 1.98 square kilometers (490 acres) and stores 89 million cubic meters of water (72,000 acre-ft). With it we can essentially balance the power needs of the entire Kingdom, provided that we manage to get the power grid to reach all the communities. We can bridge power demand fluctuations of up to 80 megawatts, for up to a week, with Lake Diamond's output.
Jenny Salisbury: My goodness, it sure seems you folks put the Royal coffers to good use with this!
Supervisor: Absolutely! This will be the start of a massive boom of development in Rota.
The clouds seem to be chasing us, as we just exited Lake Diamond and approach Lake Pearl, the lower reservoir of this hydropower complex.
Meanwhile, Mew took the scenic route and reached the fourth waterfall downstream of Lake Diamond. It seems to be picking up flow as the rains of Lake Diamond drain along its river!
Mew: Nyah-niau!!!!!
(Translation: Another one!!!!)
Lake Pearl is located in another river, but shares its waters with Lake Diamond through the pumped storage system. Even then, the supervisor tells us that Lake Pearl is deeper than Lake Diamond, but occupies a smaller surface area. The surveyors have yet to conduct a final measurement to rigorously assess the final dimensions of the reservoir.
Mew helps us get another view just before rain gets in the way! Here we can see Lake Pearl's dam, the power lines coming down from Lake Diamond, four huge pipes emptying Lake Pearl's water in the outskirts of Ingena, our road and what looks to be an artificial stream.
Queen Ilene: So what is the small artificial stream for?
Supervisor: Ohh, Your Highness, that artifical stream is called a fish ladder. It forms a passageway for fish pokémon to bypass the dam and allows them to swim between Lake Pearl and the lower river. We're designing one for Lake Diamond as well, but the terrain there is much more challenging than here!
Queen Ilene: Do fish pokémon use it already?
Supervisor: A few, but once autumn fully arrives we hope to have a huge migration upstream as the fish gather to spawn their descendants.
Queen Ilene: It's truly amazing to have these brilliant ideas in place to help wildlife in the Kingdom!
As the supervisor gave us this explanation, Mew decides to obtain another view of the river downstream of Lake Pearl. It shows the penstocks in their full length, just before they cross over to Ingena.
He also shows us the penstocks up-close:
At different points, the penstocks cross significant obstacles and terrain irregularities, like this overpass we drive under on our way to Ingena.
We finish our descent along the river valley as rain encroaches on us, meanwhile Mew seems to have spotted some fish pokémon swimming up the ladder!
Mew: Nyau-nyau-nyau!! Nyah-myah, mewmewmyah!!
(Translation: Up, up, up!! You can do it Magikarp!!)
We now cross the county border to enter Ingena. And my, is the water flowing here deafening!
The penstocks cross one last gorge on their way to the power plant.
Jenny Salisbury: Just how much power can you get from this facility?
Supervisor: Lake Pearl's power plant is designed to generate 120,000 megawatt-hours annually, we estimate it's capable of supplying most of the needs of the major cities, but by no means is it enough to cover all the demands of the Kingdom. We have been studying other options to increase electric power generation, as the community-run renewable systems aren't enough to support industrialization or a large commercial boom, in their current form. We feel particularly interested in the Geyser Canyon, we expect to find a promising geothermal energy site just south of Aldemar.
Jenny Salisbury: The Queen and I will evaluate a formal proposal on the power needs and potential projects as soon as you make it reach us.
Supervisor: Glad to know, you'll hear from us sooner than later.
And now that we've just visited the dams, reservoirs and hydroelectric facilities of the Kingdom, we finally reach the Palace. We have some wonderful preparations going on for the Festival of the Guardian! Jenny explained me that those barge formations around the Palace are part of a new fireworks display. The fireworks technicians indicated that they did not want to risk a fire by launching them closer to the palace and its autumn trees, they also tell us that this year's display will be more spectacular than ever!
We will need additional arrangements for the Festival: food, costumes, transportation, advertisement/sponsorships, competitions, emergency services, news services, sound equipment, decorations and many, many volunteers to put everything together! Expect to see some updates about these preparations and other developments of our Kingdom, stay tuned!!
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