First private electrical power station

The world's first electrical power station was built in 1878 by Signmund Schuckert in the town of Ettal, Bavaria. Using 24 dynamos powered by a steam-driven engine, it provided power to illuminate the gardens of the Linderhof Palace, near Ettal, Germany. The lighting was used to particularly good effect in the Venus Grotto in the garden, which comprised an artificial cave cut out of rock and intended to be a private theatre for the performance of Richard Wagner operas. The lighting could be varied in colour to suit the mood of the particular scenes being acted.