> (still waiting for the ...[snip] ...battacitor to be invented
> Phillip Jose Farmer?

Yes, exactly.

> Any hints?

IIRC, a battacitor can be, er, would be charged at extremely high rates without damage (e.g. by harnessing the electrical power of the Riverworld shoreline um...devices...megawatts in 10-20 seconds...) and then you can extract the power at whatever rates you needed (e.g. for the Riverboat).

-brendan

PS - sorta miffed I missed the scifi made-for-tv version...but also sorta glad I haven't see it yet, that should give me time to read that series again...it's been around 20 years.