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In the late 1870s, he invented the Pelton water wheel, at that time the most efficient design of the impulse water turbine. Recognized as one of the fathers of hydroelectric power, he was awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal during his lifetime and is an inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. [1]
The Hoover Dam in Arizona and Nevada was the first hydroelectric power station in the United States to have a capacity of at least 1,000 MW upon completion in 1936. Since then numerous other hydroelectric power stations have surpassed the 1,000 MW threshold, most often through the expansion of existing hydroelectric facilities.
The amount of hydroelectric power generated is strongly affected by changes in precipitation and surface runoff. [4] Hydroelectric stations exist in at least 34 US states. The largest concentration of hydroelectric generation in the US is in the Columbia River basin, which in 2012 was the source of 44% of the nation's hydroelectricity. [5]
The Vulcan Street Plant was the first Edison hydroelectric central station. [1] [2] [3] [4] The plant was built on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, and put into ...
John Samuel Eastwood (1857, in Minnesota – 1924, in California) was an American engineer who built the world's first reinforced concrete multiple-arch dam on bedrock foundation at Hume Lake, California, in 1908, and was one of California's pioneers of hydroelectric power production.
Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead and is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project, about 30 mi (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California.
Hoover Dam's initial 1,345 MW power station was the world's largest hydroelectric power station in 1936; it was eclipsed by the 6,809 MW Grand Coulee Dam in 1942. [20] The Itaipu Dam opened in 1984 in South America as the largest, producing 14 GW , but was surpassed in 2008 by the Three Gorges Dam in China at 22.5 GW .
The nearly 8100 major dams in the United States in 2006. The National Inventory of Dams defines a major dam as being 50 feet (15 m) tall with a storage capacity of at least 5,000 acre-feet (6,200,000 m 3), or of any height with a storage capacity of 25,000 acre-feet (31,000,000 m 3).