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The Alternating System

The Problem:
The introduction of electricity in Victoria 3 comes with a major issue: electricity is treated as a local good, making the transition to power-based production methods very micro-management-heavy. At the same time, it’s not historically accurate for a fully connected national power grid to exist the moment electricity is discovered.

This Mod’s Solution:
This mod introduces a market-wide power grid based on alternating current (AC), unlocked through a later technology.

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• New Good: Alternating Current (AC)
Electricity is split into two types:

• Direct Current (DC): Local good, behaves as electricity does in the base game. Consumed by pops and buildings.
  
• Alternating Current (AC): A new good that can be traded across the national [concept_market] (but not the world market).

• New Technology: “Alternating Current Generation”
Unlocks the new AC good and adds new production methods to power plants. Coal- and oil-based power plants begin producing alternating current, while early generators continue to output direct current.

• Automatic Substations
Every month, each state is checked and a substation is automatically built if needed:

• If the state has a shortage of DC, the substation converts AC to DC.
  
• If the state has a surplus of DC, the substation converts DC into AC, making it available to the rest of the market.
  
• At the bottom of the State Building View, you can change the target AC (local electricity) price in a range from -20% to +20%.

→ This entire process is fully automated — the player doesn't need to manage it manually.

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Wallonia produces 500 DC, but only 200 is consumed locally → surplus of 300.
A substation automatically transforms the surplus into 240 AC (with loss factor applied).

Flanders switches its wood industry to electric chainsaws, creating a demand for 200 DC.
A substation is built there and converts 240 AC into 200 DC.
→ Power demand in Flanders is met — without any power plant in the state!

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• Substations are always level 1 and state-owned
• They are automatically subsidized (unless the player disables subsidies)
• Conversion losses are about 1.2:1 (e.g., 6 input → 5 output)
• Each state attempts to maintain a local DC balance of ±0 — regardless of AC market price

Note:
If there is a shortage of AC on the market, the resulting high prices can make the upkeep of substations expensive for the country. On the other hand, if AC is cheap, the country might even profit from running them.

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This mod is still in development and serves as a working preview. Bugs may occur, and additional features are planned, such as:

• Substation privatization

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If you have suggestions, ideas, or find a balance issue, feel free to share it in the comments!