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Hydroelectric power plants vary in terms of the way they harvest energy. One type involves a dam and a reservoir. The water in the reservoir is available on demand to be used to generate electricity by passing through channels that connect the dam to the reservoir.
The Edersee Dam in Hesse, Germany. A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability.
Riverbed hardening. Dams typically release water in bursts, which removes smaller sediments like silt, sand, and gravel, as well as aquatic plants and animals and debris from vegetation. As a result, the bedrock below the dam becomes exposed and loses its value as a fish habitat. Trapping sediment, a significant source of nutrition for fish. [38]
The largest hydroelectric power station is the Three Gorges Dam in China, rated at 22,500 MW in total installed capacity. After passing on 7 December 2007 the 14,000 MW mark of the Itaipu Dam , the facility was ranked as the largest power-generating facility ever built.
The Colorado River had experienced natural flooding before the construction of the Hoover Dam. The dam eliminated the natural flooding, threatening many species adapted to the flooding, including both plants and animals. [127] The construction of the dam devastated the populations of native fish in the river downstream from the dam. [128]
Beaver dams typically range in length from a few meters to about 100 metres (330 ft). [8] Canals can be over 0.5 kilometres (1,600 ft) long. [9] The largest known beaver dam is in Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta, Canada, and is 775 metres (2,543 ft) long. [10]
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 main purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production and navigation. It is the first large-scale hydroelectric project in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. The installed capacity of the 25-unit plant is 8,370 megawatts (11,220,000 hp). Phase I construction began in 1980 and ended in 1984 while Phase II began in 1998 and ended in 2010.