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Hydropower (from Ancient Greek ὑδρο-, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a water source to produce power. [1] Hydropower is a method of sustainable energy production.
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity , almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, [ 1 ] which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also more than nuclear power . [ 2 ]
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. A PSH system stores energy in the form of gravitational potential energy of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation.
The only known surviving example of this type of engine used in power production, dating from 1851, is found at Hacienda Buena Vista in Ponce, Puerto Rico. [4] In 1820, Jean-Victor Poncelet developed an inward-flow turbine. In 1826, Benoît Fourneyron developed an outward-flow turbine. This was an efficient machine (~80%) that sent water ...
Francis turbines are primarily used for producing electricity. The power output of the electric generators generally ranges from just a few kilowatts up to 1000 MW, though mini-hydro installations may be lower. The best performance is seen when the head height is between 100–300 metres (330–980 ft). [2]
A Bonneville Dam Kaplan turbine after 61 years of service. The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, [1] who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to achieve efficiency over a wide range of flow and water level.
A screw turbine at a small hydro power plant in Goryn, Poland. The Archimedean screw is an ancient invention, attributed to Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC.), and commonly used to raise water from a watercourse for irrigation purposes. In 1819 the French engineer Claude Louis Marie Henri Navier (1785–1836) suggested using the Archimedean ...
Low-head hydro power refers to the development of hydroelectric power where the head is typically less than 20 metres, although precise definitions vary. [1] Head is the vertical height measured between the hydro intake water level and the water level at the point of discharge.