One of the most often asked questions about hydroelectric power is just what is hydroelectric power?
The primary cause for confusion is based on the fact that hydroelectric power is such a wide-ranging variety of options. Because this is one of the oldest sources of power, there have been so many different kinds of developments throughout the years. Even today, the most basic and elementary types of hydroelectric power are still in use today, including the Hoover Dam in Arizona, which was build in the 1920′s.
At it’s most basic level, hydroelectric power is any use of water to create electricity. This could be anything from the ancient waterwheels used to power textile mills in old world Europe, or a modern day turbine spun by water falling through a man{-| }made dam. The most up-to-date type of hydroelectric power is a buoy that sits in wavy water, generating electricity based on the ebb and flow of the water surrounding it. Currently, there are more than ten thousand of these buoys in the oceans of the world, and many more being used privately on lakes and ponds. While they haven’t been tested extensively in rivers, initial results are promising.
No matter what the external structure looks like, all of these hydroelectric power sources use similar internal technology. Water is taken in through some opening in the structure, and passes through fans similar to what you’d see on a windmill, though smaller in size. These fans then turn a turbine, which is actually a small motor, and this turns the kinetic and potential energy into electricity.
The most powerful forms of hydroelectric energy are man{ |-}made dams. These can be huge walls built in canyons, or they can be long shelves in relatively large lakes. There are now dams in over 30% of US forest preserves, and more than 60% of all Canadian electricity is produced by large-scale dams built in rivers. Power is generated in these structures when water falls down from near the top of the dam, and is released into the river stemming from the other side near the bottom of the dam. The taller the dam, the more power can be potentially generated. Turbines in the largest dams, like the Three Gorges Dam in China, can weigh more than a ton, and are taller then thirty feet high. In smaller lake dams, the turbines are very small, and the amount of hydroelectric power is not very great, but any little bit helps, and this is considered one of the least environmentally impactful forms of creating energy.
Hopefully this gives more insight into what hydroelectric power is.