Hydro
Hydro electric power
Hydro is another term used to describe water and as humans we have been using water as a source of energy for thousands of years.
Hydro
Water is constantly all around us and moving.
Water is evaporated by the heat of the sun. The warm moist air rises then cools and condenses forming clouds. It cools down some more creating rain. The rain falls on the landscape and then drains into the streams and rivers and back into the sea
Hydro
The most common way that water was used to create power was with a water wheel. The water was channelled to flow over the wheel and then the pockets in the wheel filled with water and the weight of water caused it to turn. The wheel then turned machinery such as a grindstone to crush grain.
Hydro
To create electricity efficiently the generator needs to turn very fast. Water wheels turn slowly with great force. Water turbines are designed to spin quickly to create electricity. Before the national grid covered Wales many remote farms had their own water turbine like the one in the picture.
Hydro electric
Water is constantly moving, so all this movement provides an enormous opportunity to create useful energy in the form of hydroelectricity. Hydroelectric power uses the force of moving water to create electricity.
Hydro
Hydropower is a very good way of storing power generated in others ways but is not needed straight away. Dinorwig power station pumps water from the lower lake to the upper one when too much power is being put into the grid. When demand for power is high, water is released turning the turbine creating electricity.
Hydro
But there are problems with large dams because large areas of land need to be flooded to store the water, this then destroys wildlife and causes people to be moved out of their homes.
Hydro
Large-scale HEP currently accounts for about 20% of the world's electricity supply. In the UK this percentage is much smaller at 1%.
Hydro power
However, HEP stations often require steep fast flowing rivers in mountainous regions or large dams which hold back the water to be released when needed. This allows the water flow to turn the generators quickly.
Activities
Hydro power
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