Hydropower History
Hydropower is one of the oldest forms of power generated by man. The earliest forms of hydropower date back to ancient Greece, where farmers harnessed the power of water and turned it into mechanical power for uses such as grinding grain. I found this interactive timeline about the history of hydropower in the USA, produced by energy.gov to be very interesting.
Photo Taken From Here
Modern-Day Large Scale Hydropower
The Grand Coulee Dam in Washington is the largest
hydroelectric plant in the USA. The dam was began producing
electricity in 1942 and has since been upgraded with another
powerplant to increase energy production. The Grand Coulee Dam
is 550 feet tall, with a reservoir capacity of 12 cubic
kilometers, which is what allows the turbine generators to
produce 20.24 TWh of power anually. (That's 20,240,000,000
KWh!)
Photo Photo Taken From Hydroelectricity Facts
Not Common in the USA
Only 3% of the 80,000 dams in the USA are currently being used to generate electricity. See More Here…
Largest Producer of Renewable Energy Globally
Hydroelectric energy generates nearly 60% of all renewable
energy produced today, which is nearly 16% of all energy
produced.
See More Here…
Efficiency
Electricity produced using fossil fuels typically have an
efficiency of about 50%, while hydropower turbines can be up
to 90% efficient.
See More Here…
Photo Taken From Here