Energy for Sustainable Society

8Hydropower

Canadian and American hydroelectric power plants in Niagara Falls. The Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Generating Station in Ontario, Canada (left) was opened in 1922, and the Robert Moses Niagara Hydroelectric Power Station located in Lewiston, NY, was opened in 1961. Both stations are pumped storage hydroelectric power plants pumping water up in two separate lakes at night, one in Canada and one in the US, generating electricity during peak hours using the water stored in the lakes.

8.1 Introduction

Power of flowing water has been harnessed since ancient civilizations used them to drive sawmills, grain mills, metal forging apparatus, and mining equipment. Waterwheels were common in many parts of the world, and early waterwheel designs were either undershot or overshot types and were quite inefficient. The first submerged vertical axis turbine, invented in 1832 by French engineer Benoît Fourneyron, was a breakthrough that increased efficiency.

Hydropower was used to generate electricity for the first time on September 30, 1882 on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin; the facility was developed by Appleton Paper manufacturer H.J. Rogers. The earlier generation units built in New York City by Thomas Edison were using steam power to drive DC generators, while the Appleton plant used the natural hydropower of the Fox River.

In 1895, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse ...