First installations of submerged Kaplan turbine in Italy

In the 1980s, the Flygh company proposed the use of submerged hydropower units similar to its commercial pumps, well known and widespread. Since this technology sounded very attractive under various aspects, but also with some critical issues, before adopting them we took part in the hydraulic simulations in the laboratories of the parent company in Sweden and finally, in 1988, we installed the first 3 hydropower units of this type in Italy, with 500 kW each, for Capriolo hydropower plant in Brescia province.