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The Geysers is the largest complex of geothermal generating plants in the world. Located about 100 miles north of San Francisco in the Mayacma mountains of California's coastal range, The Geysers steam clouds can often be seen from miles away. Consisting of 21 generating plants, the combined power of The Geysers complex is around 1,000 megawatts (MW) or enough to power approximately 1,000,000 homes. The natural and historic geothermal activity of the area, steam escaping from cracks in the ground, is more correctly referred to as fumaroles. When the first white settlers found them and developed the area as a tourist attraction, the name Geysers was much more appealing. The first attempt at generating power from the steam came in 1922. But cheaper forms of power generation were available from hydroelectric, coal, and petroleum derivatives and the project was abandoned. Over time the site was developed by a number of companies including Magma Power Company and Thermal Power Company. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) built it's first 11 MW generating plant and it went into commercial operation on 25 September 1960. In 1980, PG&E built the Big Geysers power plant and with a capacity of 133 MW it became the world's largest geothermal unit. In 1989 the generating capacity of The Geysers peaked at about 2,000 MW. Over time the steam field has diminished in capacity. A way of keeping the steam field viable is to pump water down into the field where it heats up and comes back out as steam to turn the turbines. The water that is pumped into the ground is provided by the waste water treatment facilities in Santa Rosa, Clearlake, and Middletown. While many energy companies took an interest in the Geysers, from PG&E to Unocal, Calpine is now the owner and operator of 19 of the 21 units and responsible for about 850 MW of energy. Calpine offers free tours of The Geysers and has a wonderful visitor's center in Middletown. Special thanks to Sandy Tucker and Lyle La Faver of Calpine for both allowing me to take these photographs and for the personal tour. Behind the scene : how this panorama was made
More panoramas from my day at The Geysers 360Geographics - Panoramas from all over North America of tourist destinations and places off the beaten path. 
Shortcut to this page: http://worldwidepanorama.org/wwp_rss/go/n1488
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