Where is hydropower

Hydropower Turbines. Hydropower Glossary. Hydropower, or hydroelectric power, is one of the oldest and largest sources of renewable energy , which uses the natural flow of moving water to generate electricity.

While most people might associate the energy source with the Hoover Dam—a huge facility harnessing the power of an entire river behind its wall— hydropower facilities come in all sizes. Some may be very large, but they can be tiny, too, taking advantage of water flows in municipal water facilities or irrigation ditches.

Whatever the method, hydropower is much easier to obtain and more widely used than most people realize. In fact, all but two states Delaware and Mississippi use hydropower for electricity, some more than others. Hydropower technologies generate power by using the elevation difference, created by a dam or diversion structure, of water flowing in on one side and out, far below, on the other.

Text version. Hydropower is an affordable source of electricity that costs less than most. Since hydropower relies only on the energy from moving water, states that get the majority of their electricity from hydropower, like Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, have lower energy bills than the rest of the country.

Hydropower relies on the endless, constantly recharging system of the water cycle to produce electricity, using a fuel—water—that is not reduced or eliminated in the process. There are many types of hydropower facilities , though they are all powered by the kinetic energy of flowing water as it moves downstream.

Hydropower utilizes turbines and generators to convert that kinetic energy into electricity, which is then fed into the electrical grid to power homes, businesses, and industries. Because hydropower uses water to generate electricity, plants are usually located on or near a water source.

The energy available from the moving water depends on both the volume of the water flow and the change in elevation—also known as the head—from one point to another. The greater the flow and the higher the head, the more the electricity that can be generated. The theory is to build a dam on a large river that has a large drop in elevation there are not many hydroelectric plants in Kansas or Florida.

The dam stores lots of water behind it in the reservoir. Near the bottom of the dam wall there is the water intake. Gravity causes it to fall through the penstock inside the dam. At the end of the penstock there is a turbine propeller , which is turned by the moving water. The shaft from the turbine goes up into the generator, which produces the power.

Power lines are connected to the generator that carry electricity to your home and mine. The water continues past the propeller through the tailrace into the river past the dam.

This chart shows hydroelectric power generation in for the leading hydroelectric-generating countries in the world. China has developed large hydroelectric facilities in the last decade and now lead the world in hydroelectricity usage.

But, from north to south and from east to west, countries all over the world make use of hydroelectricity—the main ingredients are a large river and a drop in elevation along with money, of course.

Credit: Energy Information Administration. Water is everywhere, which is fortunate for all of humanity, as water is essential for life. Even though water is not always available in the needed quantity and quality for all people everywhere, people have learned to get and use water for all of their water needs, from drinking, cleaning, irrigating crops, producing electricity, and for just having fun.

So just how do we get electricity from water? Actually, hydroelectric and coal-fired power plants produce electricity in a similar way. In both cases a power source is used to turn a propeller-like piece called a turbine. Nothing is perfect on Earth, and that includes the production of electricity using flowing water.

Hydroelectric-production facilities are indeed not perfect a dam costs a lot to build and also can have negative effects on the environment and local ecology , but there are a number of advantages of hydroelectric-power production as opposed to fossil-fuel power production.

Gravity causes it to fall through the penstock. Demand for electricity is not "flat" and constant. Demand goes up and down during the day, and overnight there is less need for electricity in homes, businesses, and other facilities. For example, here in Atlanta, Georgia at PM on a hot August weekend day, you can bet there is a huge. Diagram of a hydroelectric generator is courtesy of U.

Army Corps of Engineers. As to how this generator works, the Corps of Engineers explains it this way : "A hydraulic turbine converts the energy of flowing water into mechanical energy. A hydroelectric generator.

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