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Hydropower
Hydroelectric power is the world’s largest renewable source of electricity, accounting for almost 20 percent of the world’s electricity. The Federal Power Commission was established in 1920 to issue licenses for hydropower on public land. The massive demand for electricity during the post-WWII population boom sparked a period of government-sponsored “mega-projects”, including both the Grand Coulee and Hoover Dam Hydroelectric Projects. By 1940, hydropower accounted for 40 percent of electrical generation in the United States. In the United States, hydropower has largely been developed by the federal government, including the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Bonneville Power Authority. These federal corporations were founded to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation and economic development. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the Bureau of Reclamation is responsible for building and maintaining infrastructure while the relevant power authority operates the facility and markets the power. Today, most viable sites for dams have already been developed or are not environmentally feasible. It is doubtful that any significantly-sized dams will be built in the future. However, a large number of dams in the United States do not currently supply hydroelectric power. Retrofit run-of-river projects provide a way to increase our renewable energy portfolio while avoiding environmental impacts by putting existing infrastructure to use.
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In 1882, the first hydroelectric plant was built on the Fox River in Wisconsin, just after the development of the incandescent light bulb. Hydroelectric projects played a major role in the expansion of electrical service in the early part of the 19th century, as hydropower facilities were more reliable and efficient than early fossil fuel-fired power plants. The development of hydroelectric plants became so widespread that the government stepped in to regulate hydroelectric power on navigable waterways.
Many of the “mega-projects” had irreversible negative impacts on local watersheds, compromising local fisheries as well as local recreational and agricultural resources. Coupled with increases in the efficiency of fossil fuel-fired power plants, these impacts brought an end to the rapid growth of hydropower. From the 1940s to the early 1970s, many smaller hydroelectric facilities were closed down due to high maintenance and supervision costs in comparison to fossil-fuel fired plants. Currently, hydropower accounts for about 10 percent of the electricity generated in the United States.