History
People have been using hydro power for
thousands of years. More than 2,000 years
ago, the ancient Greeks and Romans used
water wheels to drive mills to grind grain.
By the early 19th century, there were 30,000
water mills in Britain. However, during the
industrial revolution most of the water
wheels were replaced by engines running
on coal. Towards the end of the 19th
century, water power started to be used to
generate electricity. Hydroelectric power
(HEP) is now the world’s biggest source of
renewable electricity, and produces almost
16% of the world’s electricity. In the UK we
produce 1% of our electricity from HEP,
24% of our renewable electricity