الوصفInterior of a geothermal power station at Larderello, Italy: Larderello, 65km south-west of Florence, was the first geothermal field exploited in the world. In 1827 Francesco de Larderel, a former officer in Napoleon's army, who had immigrated to Tuscany (he was born in Vienna in the Dauphine) had the idea of exploiting the geothermal water, evaporating part of it, and extracting boric acid. The place was later called Larderello in his honour. In 1904 a small turbogenerator produced electricity from the geothermal steam for the first time, and one year later a 20KW power plant was installed. Power production in the largest known geothermal field of the world, the Geysers in California, USA started only in 1960, although the first exploration well was drilled in 1921.
Photo - Large Negative
