Renewable energy (about Hydropower) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Renewable energy (about Hydropower) - bear witness ExampleThe development of hydropower turbines and decametres took place in the late 19th century and hydropower became a major spring of electricity by the start of the industrial revolution 1. Hydropower has not been developed in the Middle eastmost mainly because of the scarcity of water resources in most of the countries in this region of the world. However countries like Iraq, Syria and Egypt film constructed hydropower projects on the few rivers which rate of flow through the estate. The cheap and easy availability of fossil fuels is in like manner a major cause of the lack of development of the hydropower sector in the region. The changing climatic conditions hand also affected the development of hydropower in the Middle East because the declining quantity of water in the rivers consequently the office of hydropower to the overall electricity generation is on the declining trend. Hydropower contributed 70% to the gen erated electricity of Egypt in 1970 but the percentage have fallen to less than 10% in the recent years, same is the case with other Middle east countries. The research and publication in hydropower is being carried out by various research institutes, most remarkable of which are China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Institute of Energy Research of US, United Nations Development course of study and the World Bank 2. The most noteworthy advantage of hydropower is the rapid payback and the low cost snarled in generation. The initial cost are high and the setup time is relatively long for the dams and connected power plants which can be designed to give high power generation capacities. Once built, the dam can produce huge amount of electrical power with virtually no running cost. The solely costs involved are the operation and maintenance expenses of the power plant and civil infrastructure. The running costs range between five to ten percent of the cost of generated power. Other renewable energy resources much(prenominal) as solar and wind require huge initial investment and greater running costs for the same amount of power generated by hydroelectric power plants. A remarkable example in this regard is the hydroelectric power generation in China which has grown a great story in the recent years supporting the ever increasing demands of the developing industry. The cheap electricity produced through hydroelectric plants generates further resources for the installation of new power plants. Since the economic and industrial growth of a country is directly dependent on its energy production, hydropower can have a large pretend on economic and industrial growth 3. Another important advantage which these hydroelectric power plants provide is the flexibility of operation. The power plants normally have a starting time of five to ten minutes compared to much than twenty four hours for a fossil fuel fired power plant. The hydroelectric p ower plants and related dam structure are mostly designed to comprise of multiple small generating units rather than atomic number 53 large unit. This provides the freedom to vary the generation according to the load while the extra energy (possessed by the flowing water of the river) can be stored in the water storage. Moreover, the dam is provided with a spill counsel which can be used to allow extra water to bypass the power plant and flow back to the river. Hydroelectric power plants have minimum environmental impact when in use. The environmental impact on the ecology of an area can be significant and need thorough analysis and feasibility assessment.