How Russians use geysers for heating and generating electricity

Written by on December 2, 2022

Remote settlements in the Russian Far East have power plants unusual for Russia. They are neither conventional thermal power plants nor nuclear power stations, but geothermal power plants. How do they work?

Electrification of the country was one of the Bolsheviks’ universal goals after the 1917 Revolution. Scientists “tamed” water and wind in search of new sources of energy, without which the industrial development of the state would have been impossible. And, in the Far East, they found another, alternative source of energy.

Kamchatka is the land of hot springs.

Legion Media

The Kamchatka peninsula (Kamchatka Territory) and the Kuril Islands (Sakhalin Region), situated a long way from mainland Russia, have a high concentration of active volcanoes, geysers and thermal waters. These sources were used for heating houses in the past, but it was only in the 20th century that it proved possible to convert steam into electricity for industrial needs.

The first geothermal power station in the world was built in Tuscany in Italy in 1904 and it now supplies electricity to an area around the village of Larderello. As for Soviet scientists, they began their research in Kamchatka after the Great Patriotic War (World War II).

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