Hydroelectric Energy Advantages and Disadvantages

Even though hydroelectric energy provides the world with clean energy, there are still a few issues with it. In this article, we will analyse the benefits and drawbacks of hydropower.

What is Hydroelectric Energy?

Hydroelectric energy is the most widely used renewable power source on the planet. Hydroelectric energy means the production of electricity using hydropower as a power source. As per the hydropower status report of 2019, the hydroelectricity gave us an incredible 21.8 GW of energy and developed by 9% throughout the year. Hydroelectric energy is a traditional source of energy in which the kinetic energy of water flowing at high speed and the potential energy of the same water, which is made to run on the spillway of a dam, are used to generate electricity.

How is Hydroelectric Power Produced?

Hydropower plants make energy by utilising the power of water to turn turbines. A Hydropower plant works in the same way as a coal fuel plant. For instance, when coal is burnt in a coal plant, the steam that is produced powers turbines that generate electricity. With hydropower, the energy source that creates power is water.

In order to produce hydroelectric energy, high-rise dams are constructed on a river to obstruct the flow of water. Further, this water collected in the reservoir is used to generate kinetic and potential energy, which eventually generates hydroelectric energy.

Read More: Hydroelectricity Generation

Advantages of Hydroelectric Energy

1. Electricity can be produced at a constant rate once the dam is constructed

2. The gates of the dam can be shut down if electricity is not needed, which stops electricity generation. Hence by doing this, we can save water for further use in future when the demand for electricity is high.

3. One of the biggest advantages of hydroelectric power plants is that they are designed to last many decades, and so they can contribute to the generation of electricity for years.

4. Large dams often become tourist attractions because the lake that forms in the reservoir area behind the dam can be used for leisure or water sports.

5. The water from the lake of the dam can be used for irrigation purposes in farming.

6. Since the water is released to produce electricity, the build-up of water in the dam is stored to produce extra energy until needed.

7. Hydroelectric energy generation does not pollute the atmosphere because the hydroelectric power plant does not produce greenhouse gases.

8. Hydropower plants can be considered a reliable energy generation source. Since hydropower totally depends on water present on this planet, this energy source will remain inexhaustible because of the water cycle as it continuously keeps on maintaining balance on the Earth.

Disadvantages of Hydroelectric Energy

1. It is not an easy task to assemble a hydropower plant because the dams are extremely expensive to build, and they require extremely high standards and calculations for their construction.

2. It becomes important that the hydropower plant must serve for many decades because of its high cost of construction, and this totally depends on the availability of water resources.

3. If flooding happens due to natural calamities or the failure of dams, it would impact a large area of land, which means that the natural environment can be destroyed.

4. People are forcibly removed from the particular area where a hydropower plant is going to be assembled. This affects the day-to-day life of people living in that area.

5. A serious geological damage can be caused due to the construction of large dams.

6. To construct a hydro plant, it is important to block the running water source due to which the fishes can’t arrive at their favourable place, and as the water stops streaming, the areas along the riverside start to vanish out which eventually influences the life of creatures that depend on fish for food.

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