Regenerative Electricity


We all know, there is climate change, and carbon dioxide is responsible, and the idea is to stop using fossil fuels to generate electricity. The obvious alternative is solar power, the traditional is hydroelectric power. But there are more regenerative power sources. We read numerous articles about show caves generating their own electricity, and so we had the idea to make list of show caves which use at least 50 % regenerative electricity.

The oldest we found is the Olga Cave in Germany, which was electrically lit in 1884 and the electricity was produced with a waterwheel. Today's view is "environment friendly, renewable, no carbon dioxide footprint". But at that time it was different: the small village had no eletricity, we guess it was electrified ten or 15 years later. But the cave entrance was only 40 m from a watermill, which used the small brook to grind wheat. The obvious solution was to add a generator to the existing waterwheel.

Solar power exists for 50 years now, we are sure there was one or the other show cave which was solar-powered in this period. Especially as some caves are far from the grid, and it's much cheaper to install solar power than to build a power line over kilometers through wilderness. However, this page is about renewable energy, we do not include caves with Diesel generators or Delco Light. The first cave which was intentionally built to be 100 % solar-powered is Grotte Salamandre in France, as far as we know. That's actually a shame, as working and affordable solar cells are sold since the 1980s.


Year Name Country Type Explanation
1884 ShowcaveOlgahöhle Germany Hydroelectric This is the first electric light in a show cave in Germany, and as there was no electric grid at that time, it was generated by a small river right beneath the cave entrance.
2013 ShowcaveGrotte de la Salamandre France Solar The Salamander cave completely powers its lighting system using SolbianFlex CP panels. It was created as environment friendly as possible. Thus, the cave is not only equipped with modern LED light, it is also powered by solar energy. The cave is not connected to the grid.
2015 ShowcaveNiagara Cave MN, U.S.A. Solar An offsite photo-voltaic solar panel array was constructed producing 45,000 kwh/year, totally offsetting the entire energy consumption of the Niagara Cave.
2019 ShowcaveRuakuri Cave New Zealand Solar The cave is almost completely powered by solar power. They have a fallback diesel generator with extremely low fuel burn, when there is no sun and the 30kWh lithium battery is empty.
2023 ShowcaveCave of the Mounds WI, U.S.A. Solar Two 28 kW solar panels reduce the carbon footprint by more than 50 %.
2024 ShowcaveNatural Bridge Caverns TX, U.S.A. Solar 108-kilowatt Mission Solar Energy Solar Modules with a potential annual solar production of 155,321 kWh. The first show cave in Texas to adopt solar power for its above-ground operations.