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When did hydroelectric power start being used as a large scale energy source?

Katherin Sparrow

Well, hydroelectric power has been around for quite some time now. It's hard to pinpoint an exact date when it started being used on a large scale, but I'll do my best to give you a general idea.

Hydropower is essentially power that comes from moving water. It's been used for centuries to grind grains and power various machines, but the concept of using it for generating electricity is relatively more recent. The first hydroelectric power plant was built in 1878 by a man named James Buchanan Eads in the United States. However, this was a very small plant, and it was only used to power a few lights.

The real breakthrough came 11 years later, in 1889, when a larger hydroelectric power plant was built in Wisconsin, also in the United States. This plant used turbines to generate electricity, and it was able to power several streetlights, as well as a few homes and businesses. This marked the real beginning of hydroelectric power being used as a large-scale energy source.

After this, more and more hydroelectric power plants were built around the world. By the early 1900s, hydroelectric power was being used to power entire cities, most notably in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The Hoover Dam, which was completed in 1936, is perhaps the most famous example of a hydroelectric power plant that was built during this period. It generates enough electricity to power millions of homes.

However, the real growth of hydroelectric power came after World War II. During the 1950s and 1960s, many countries around the world invested heavily in hydroelectric power plants, as they were seen as a reliable and cost-effective way of generating electricity. Many of these plants are still in operation today, such as the Grand Coulee Dam in the United States and the Itaipu Dam in Brazil.

Today, hydroelectric power is still one of the most important sources of electricity worldwide. It has a number of benefits over other sources of energy, such as being renewable and emitting little to no greenhouse gases. While it does have some drawbacks - such as the environmental impact on rivers and aquatic ecosystems - it remains a key part of the energy mix for many countries.

So to sum up, hydroelectric power started being used as a large-scale energy source in the late 1800s, with the building of larger and more advanced hydroelectric power plants. Since then, the use of hydroelectric power has continued to grow, becoming an important part of the global energy mix.