Hydropower (from Ancient Greek ὑδρο -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines.

Hydropower, or hydroelectric power, is a renewable source of energy that generates power by using a dam or diversion structure to alter the natural flow of a river or other body of water.

At hydropower plants water flows through a pipe, or penstock, then pushes against and turns blades in a turbine that spin to power a generator to produce electricity.

Oct 8, 2025 · Hydropower is energy created from fresh, moving water. Over 2,000 years ago, the ancient Greeks used the power in rivers and streams to rotate wooden wheels and crush grain to …

Nov 26, 2025 · Discover how hydropower generates clean electricity. Learn the complete process from water flow to power grid, including turbines, generators, and efficiency factors.

Hydropower is a type of renewable energy that uses the power of water flows to generate electricity. The energy that is generated by hydropower plants is clean, reliable, and sustainable, making it a …

Hydropower, also known as hydroelectricity, is a semi-renewable resource that uses the flow of water to generate electricity. We categorize this resource as semi-renewable, because it must be carefully …

There are four main types of hydropower plants: run-of-river, storage, pumped storage and offshore hydropower. Only a small minority of the world's dams are built for hydropower, with the majority …

Hydropower extracts mechanical energy from water, transforming it into electrical energy to generate electricity. Water in the environment often has both gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy, …

Humans have been harnessing the energy of river currents for centuries, using water wheels spun by rivers initially to process grains and cloth. Today, hydropower provides about 16 percent of the...