The rise of nanometers

Zhang Guanghe, the leader of the Shandong Province inspection team, carefully observed the sewage treatment situation and asked Jiang Hailin some questions from time to time.

"Manager Jiang, can your technology be used for seawater desalination?"

"Our company has indeed tried it, and it can indeed desalinate seawater." Jiang Hailin did not hide this aspect.

Zhang Guanghe's eyes lit up: "I wonder how much it costs to desalinize? Can mass production be achieved?"

"The cost is not bad, mainly due to the need for regular replacement of the permeable membrane, some electricity bills, and the harmless treatment of the filter residue." Jiang Hailin opened his eyes and told lies.

In fact, the seven-sided silicon oxide-graphene film can last for more than ten years under high-intensity operation.

But you definitely can't say that, otherwise how can you make a profit? The worst is, the film will be replaced regularly, creating an illusion.

As for being discovered, it can also be explained by technological upgrades. Anyway, these technologies and products are unlikely to be sold in a short time, and only some people within the company know about them.

Zhang Guanghe and others are also considering some situations.

"Manager Jiang, if we build a seawater desalination plant, what is the approximate ex-factory price of desalinated water?"

When asked about this, the technology transformation group led by Jiang Hailin is the department responsible for the commercialization of scientific research results, and has naturally studied the commercialization plan for seawater desalination.

He pretended to think for a few minutes before saying a number: "About 0.3 yuan per cubic meter."

"0.3 yuan?" Zhang Guanghe fell into deep thought. Although the price is expensive, it is similar to that of ordinary water plants, or even cheaper.

Especially for Shandong Province, which has developed heavy industry, the water resources in this area are seriously polluted, so the treatment cost of water plants will be relatively high.

Take Quancheng, the capital of Shandong Province, as an example.

The ex-factory price of the five water plants in Quancheng ranges from 0.6 to 1.2 yuan per cubic meter, which is significantly higher than 0.3 yuan per cubic meter.

“If we expand the scale, can we effectively reduce the ex-factory price?”

Jiang Hailin thought for a while and replied: "If the annual output exceeds 1 billion cubic meters, the cost can be reduced by a cent. The problem is that such a large output is difficult to digest locally. Water transmission pipelines must be built, which is also a huge expense."

"Annual output of 1 billion cubic meters?" Zhang Guanghe secretly wondered. We must know that the total water supply in Shandong Province last year was only 21.989 billion cubic meters, including 2.871 billion cubic meters of domestic water, 2.469 billion cubic meters of industrial water, 16.276 billion cubic meters of agricultural water, and 3.73 billion cubic meters of ecological water. billion cubic meters.

If Suiren Company's seawater desalination plant is put into operation, it can produce 1 billion cubic meters of desalinated water annually, which is basically equivalent to one-third of the province's residents' domestic water supply.

The problem then arises, that is, how to transport water.

After all, not all cities are coastal cities, and before coming here, Zhang Guanghe had also heard about Pengcheng's failure at Suiren Company.

It is estimated that in the island city, due to Veolia's sewage treatment plant project, Suiren Company will find it difficult to agree to coexist with it.

Sure enough, in the following conversation, Jiang Hailin came up with a cooperation plan that was an all-contracting package. It was not allowed to set up a separate water plant to supply water companies at all.

After talking for two days, but unable to reach an agreement, Zhang Guanghe finally ran to the headquarters of Suiren Company and had a meeting with Huang Xiuyuan.

In a small office at the headquarters.

"Mr. Huang, we are very sincere. If we can reach cooperation, it will be a good publicity for your company."

Huang Xiuyuan didn't care about this. He directly asked a very practical question: "If a seawater desalination plant is built, how to ensure profitability?"

Zhang Guanghe wanted to explain something, but Huang Xiuyuan raised his hand: "Director Zhang, listen to me. When I say profit, do you mean how the local water company makes money?"

"Um..." This question confused Zhang Guanghe, and he asked in confusion: "Does this have anything to do with the profits of the local water company? Of course, the desalinated water from the desalination plant is sold directly to the water company, and they are responsible for their own profits and losses. "

"Of course it does matter. If the water company cannot make a profit and happens to encounter local financial difficulties, will the water company pay on time? I'm afraid this is an unknown."

Faced with Huang Xiuyuan's outspokenness, Zhang Guanghe was indeed a little embarrassed. At the same time, after thinking about it deeply, this possibility did exist.

The most common situation that private enterprises and state-owned enterprises encounter when doing business is that payments are often in arrears.

The water supply project itself is very sensitive and is an urgent need for people's livelihood. It is basically not allowed to cut off the water supply to the water company because of debt arrears.

As a result, the desalination plant was in a rather passive situation during the cooperation process, which Huang Xiuyuan did not want to see.

"I believe this is the case, and Director Zhang is well aware of it. At present, the specific profits of water companies in various places are probably negative!"

Zhang Guanghe nodded helplessly. Before he came to Shanmei, he had investigated some situations. Quancheng Water Company alone lost an average of 1.5 yuan per cubic meter of tap water sold.

In other words, Shandong Province's domestic water supply will suffer losses of more than 4 billion every year. If it were not for financial subsidies, these water companies would have gone bankrupt long ago.

Zhang Guanghe is also in a dilemma: "Mr. Huang, although there are precedents for private and foreign capital to contract water affairs, and your company has also contracted Tuocheng Water Company, the water contracting for the entire Shandong Province is still too huge."

Huang Xiuyuan took out a document and handed it over: "How about this? A joint venture between Lu Province and our company will form a general water company. We Suiren only need 5% of the shares, but we need full management rights."

"5% of the shares? Full management rights? Can your company make the water company profitable?" Zhang Guanghe became curious.

"We can actually calculate an account. In terms of water charges in Shandong Province, industrial water is 2.4 billion cubic meters and domestic water is 3 billion cubic meters..." Huang Xiuyuan said while writing some data on the paper.

There are 2.4 billion cubic meters of industrial water and 3 billion cubic meters of domestic water. The water fee plus the sewage treatment fee has an average retail price of 3 yuan per cubic meter, which means the total annual turnover is 16.2 billion yuan. Even if there is water theft, the At least 80% can be received, and there is a turnover of 13 billion.

In fact, if commercial water use in domestic water is listed separately, and some agricultural water charges are included, the total water fee turnover of Shandong Province can definitely reach about 18 billion.

The water plant of Suiren Company has an ex-factory price of 0.3 yuan per cubic meter and supplies 6 billion cubic meters of pure water a year, which is only 1.8 billion yuan.

Subtracting the sewage treatment fee of 0.8 yuan per cubic meter, it is 4.8 billion yuan.

After some calculations, it only cost 6.6 billion. So where did the remaining tens of billions go? Even if 30% of the turnover is invested every year to maintain and transform pipelines and equipment, it only costs about 5.4 billion.

There is still about 6 billion in turnover left, so the labor cost cannot be 6 billion, right?

There are up to 16,000 water company employees in 16 prefecture-level cities. Even if the average annual salary per person is 100,000, plus other expenses and benefits, the maximum expenditure is 2 billion.

Where did the remaining 4 billion go?

It is understandable if the ex-factory price of water plants in the past was too high, which led to the 4 billion being used in this area.

But if Suiren Company takes over, the 4 billion will become a profit point.

Seeing this, Zhang Guanghe couldn't help but ask: "In other words, if we hand over the water management to your company, can we make a profit?"