Solar and wind power expansion thanks to Mersen's innovations

Just as the Eiffel Tower was being inaugurated, Maurice Lacombe founded Lacombe & Cie, a company soon to be renamed Le Carbone, whose specialty was the production of industrial carbon.

For nearly 40 years, the company produced carbon arc rods, using a technology that would go on to revolutionize electrical distribution and public lighting, before merging with Compagnie Lorraine des Charbons in 1937.