Energy · 1904

Geothermal power

Volcanic steam at Larderello lights five bulbs, then an Italian grid.

Prince Piero Ginori Conti ran a dynamo on natural steam at Larderello in 1904, and a 250 kW commercial plant followed in 1913. Geothermal gives steady power day and night; Iceland and Kenya now draw large shares of electricity from it.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

Self-excited dynamo 1866
High-pressure steam engine 1800

What it led to 1

Binary-cycle geothermal 1967

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Share of electricity from low-carbon sources Latest: 42.6 % (2025) Source: Our World in Data

World electricity generation Latest: 31.8k TWh (2025) Source: Our World in Data