Hydropower is a renewable, sustainable energy source that generates electricity by using the natural flow of moving water to spin turbines, accounting for more than 14% of global electricity generation.
The birth of the modern hydropower turbine began in the mid-1700s with the revolutionary Architecture Hydraulique, covering the design of water pumps, mills, harbors and fountains. It was among the first works to apply integral calculus to technical engineering problems.
Fast forward to 1880, a dynamo, a device that converts mechanical energy into electric energy powered by a water turbine, provided power to a theater and storefront in Grand Rapids, Mich. A year later in 1881, a dynamo connected to a turbine in a flour mill supplied power to street lights in Niagara Falls, N.Y. In both instances, the dynamos and turbines used direct current technology, which is effective over short distances…