Ninety-five years ago, in the Tuscany village of Larderello, electricity first flowed from geothermal energy when Prince Piero Ginori Conti powered a 3/4-horsepower reciprocating engine to drive a small generator. The Prince was thereby able to light a few bulbs in his boric acid factory situated amid the boron-rich geothermal steam field. He upgraded the power system to 20kW in 1905