Hydraulic Turbine

Segovia, Spain

The Real Casa de Moneda is the original Spanish mint where all the coins in Spain where once produced. After the centralization of the manufacture of currency in Madrid in 1869 a flour factory was housed on the property from 1879 for a period of one hundred years. Among the reforms that most affected the building and the canal was the installation, in 1952, of a new Francis turbine model that moved 1705 liters of water per second.

The Real Casa de Moneda was renovated in 2007, the project took over 5 years and was completed in 2012. As a tribute to Spains part in the industrial revolution the Francis turbine that was used on the property is now exhibited outside the museum on the Patio de los Canales and has been recreated in 3D and VR for people around the world to see and share online.

The Francis turbine was developed by James B. Francis in Lowell in 1855 and has become the most common water turbine in use today, providing around 50% of the planets hydropower. The most powerful documented installation to date was by GE at the Xiang Jia Ba powerplant in China. 4 units were installed, each measuring more than 10 meters in diameter, weighing over 400 tons and producing over 6,400 MW of energy, saving over 12 million tons of CO2 emissions every year.