Chapter 159 The Peach Picker

Vinnie was highly efficient. In just three days, those seventeen clients agreed to send a representative to Oxford Town to watch a live demonstration of the power generation modules.

Sergei hauled the three retrofitted gas turbine modules to the open space outside the eastern warehouse and connected them directly to the natural gas pipeline.

On the day of the demonstration, it took the three modules six minutes and forty-seven seconds to go from a cold start to full power output—thirteen seconds faster than the seven minutes Sergei had estimated. Nine clients signed letters of intent on the spot.

Soon, the distributed power generation footprint of Oxford Town Power Company had expanded from the initial surroundings of Cincinnati to Dayton, Hamilton, Middletown, and Springfield.

Through his connections in Indiana, Ramaswamy managed to acquire eight more refurbished Solar Taurus T-60 gas turbines. Sergei and his technical team completed the mobile retrofitting of all eight units within two weeks.

Including the original twenty units and the batch of old equipment auctioned from Derek's estate, the total usable installed capacity in Mu Xin's hands exceeded six hundred megawatts.

Six hundred megawatts was no small number in any state in the United States. Ramaswamy had crunched the numbers: if all six hundred megawatts were sold, the annual revenue from electricity sales would be around six hundred and twenty million dollars.

After deducting natural gas costs, equipment depreciation, operations and maintenance labor, and the maintenance fees for Sergei's team, the net profit would be around two hundred and forty million.

Ramaswamy stood to take home over eighty million dollars annually, which was why he had driven to Oxford Town the moment he received that phone call.

The call had come from a company in Cincinnati called "Ohio Valley Energy".

This company's name was not unfamiliar in the power industry throughout southwestern Ohio. It controlled three county-level power distribution companies and one regional transmission company, with an annual revenue of approximately one billion dollars.

Compared to hundred-billion-dollar giants like AEP or Duke Energy, Ohio Valley Energy could only be considered a regional mid-sized enterprise.

But its shareholder list included two former chairmen of the State Public Utilities Commission and a former Deputy Secretary of Energy.

In Mu Xin's office, Ramaswamy pushed his phone to the center of the desk; an email was displayed on the screen.

Mu Xin picked it up and took a look. The sender was the CEO of Ohio Valley Energy, a man named Howard Bremer.

The content of the email was not long, and the wording was polite to the point of being almost arrogant:

"In view of the recent rapid expansion of Oxford Town Power Company and its structural impact on the power market in southwestern Ohio, Ohio Valley Energy wishes to hold an informal meeting with the management of Oxford Town Power Company."

"To explore the possibility of cooperation between the two parties regarding power infrastructure, supply chain synergy, and regulatory compliance."

"The meeting location is set at a private business club in downtown Cincinnati, three days from now."

"Informal meeting, possibility of cooperation, regulatory compliance." Ramaswamy sat in the leather chair opposite Mu Xin's desk, crossing his legs.

"Translated into plain English, those three terms together mean: I've got my eye on your stuff, and I want to find a way to take it."

"Regulatory compliance means that if you don't give it up, we have plenty of ways to screw you over with regulations."

Mu Xin pushed the phone back. "How much have you checked into this company's background?"

"No need to check. I know the ins and outs of this company better than their shareholder register." Ramaswamy leaned forward.

"Bremer is fifty-three years old and has been working in the Ohio power industry for thirty years."

"His uncle was once the majority leader of the Ohio Senate, and his two largest institutional shareholders have each donated to both parties through three political action committees."

"His connections in Washington aren't on Capitol Hill; they are in his client list. His company supplies emergency backup power to four military bases for The Pentagon."

Mu Xin leaned back in his chair, his fingers slowly fidgeting with the handle of his coffee cup. "So he means either we cooperate, or he throttles us at the regulatory level."

"That's pretty much the meaning."

"Then do you think they have the capability to do that?"

Ramaswamy didn't answer immediately. He stood up and walked to the window, looking in the direction of the eastern warehouse outside.

"If it were just Ohio Valley Energy by itself, then the answer is no."

"They have people in the State Public Utilities Commission, but the influence of those people doesn't reach Oxford Town."

"Oxford Town Power Company is private; it is not subject to the pricing authority of the State Public Utilities Commission, nor is it within the framework of PJM's grid interconnection agreement."

"Our distributed generation modules are installed on the clients' premises and are connected to the pipeline company's natural gas. They don't use interstate transmission lines, so technically speaking, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cannot reach us either."

He turned around to look at Mu Xin.

"But if they pull the Governors Office into this as well, the situation will be different."

"The Governor can directly order the State Department of Development to re-examine Oxford Town Power Company's safety qualifications for industrial power supply, and the State Environmental Protection Agency can send people to inspect the emission standards of the gas turbines."

"The State Department of Taxation can re-audit your excise tax filings for inter-county electricity sales. They don't need to actually find anything; as soon as the audit starts, your clients will hesitate."

"Factory owners aren't afraid of expensive electricity bills, but they are afraid of their power supplier being investigated by the government."

"So this email is just an opening statement; the real pressure is yet to come."

Mu Xin sighed. He knew Ramaswamy was right.

However, he had invested so many resources into the Governor connection that it was highly unlikely he would get involved.

...

At 3:00 PM three days later, Mu Xin and Ramaswamy appeared on time at the private business club on 4th Street in downtown Cincinnati.

The club occupied the top two floors of a 19th-century building with exterior walls made of dark red sandstone bricks and old-fashioned arched windows.

The moment he stepped out of the elevator and entered the lobby, Mu Xin felt the exclusivity of the space.

After the receptionist at the front desk looked at the printed copy of the email Ramaswamy handed over, she didn't verify any identification information and directly pressed a button under the counter.

A secret door hidden in the walnut wainscoting slid open silently, revealing a corridor paved with dark blue carpet behind it.

At the end of the corridor was a large conference room. A floor-to-ceiling window faced the bend of the Ohio River. The afternoon sunlight reflected off the river surface, bathing the entire room in a warm yellow tone.

Four people were sitting on one side of the long table.

On the far left was a white male in his fifties, wearing a dark blue suit and a silver-gray tie, his hair meticulously combed. On the table in front of him sat an untouched glass of ice water.

This was Howard Bremer, the CEO of Ohio Valley Energy. His expression was just like the email—polite to the point of being almost arrogant.

Sitting next to him was an old man, Mu Xin's old friend Governor DeWine, the current Governor of Ohio.