Hydroelectric energy - Energie EDF

Hydroelectric energy
WATER: THE WORLD’S
MAIN FORM OF
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Hydro power is an essential source of electrical energy, standing head to
head with nuclear energy on a global scale. It ranks first among all renewable
energy forms.
This environmentally-sound energy form does not contribute to the increase in
greenhouse gases or to air pollution, as it does not emit carbon dioxide or any
polluting gases.
Hydroelectric power has its own place within the natural water cycle (rainfall,
snow melt, mountain streams and rivers): water is kept in dams and used to
drive turbines and generate electrical current.
It is not so much the water head as the amount of available water contained
in the dam that determines a hydro plant’s capacity. Indeed, the world’s four
leading hydropower producers are flat countries with large catchment areas:
United States, Russia, Canada and Brazil.
France’s natural landscape provides the ideal conditions for hydroelectric
power generation: regular rainfall, contrasting terrain, long waterways and
a dense hydrographical network.
04
GREENHOUSE
EFFECT
This natural
phenomenon leads
to the warming of
the atmosphere and
surface of a planet
that is exposed to
solar rays.