Definition of hydropower Hydropower
/hajˈdɹowpawˌɹ/ - [haydrowpawr] - hy•dro•pow•er
We found 3 definitions of hydropower from 3 different sources.
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What does hydropower mean?
Wiktionary 
- hydropower (Noun)
hydroelectric power.
OmegaWiki DictionaryOmegaWiki Dictionary Ω
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hydropower
Power derived from the energy of falling water or fast running water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes.
Wikipedia 
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Hydropower is the capture of the energy of moving water for some useful purpose.
Before electric power was produced in large quantities, hydropower was used for irrigation, milling of grain, textile manufacture, and the operation of sawmills. The energy of moving water has been exploited for centuries; in Imperial Rome, water powered mills produced flour from grain, and in China and the rest of the Far East, hydraulically operated "pot wheel" pumps raised water into irrigation canals.
In the 1830s, at the peak of the canal-building era, hydropower was used to transport barge traffic up and down steep hills using inclined plane railroads. For direct mechanical power transmission industries that used hydropower had to be near the waterfall. For example, during the last half of the 19th century, many grist mills were built at Saint Anthony Falls, to use the 50 foot (15 metre) drop in the Mississippi River. The mills were important for the growth of Minneapolis. Today the largest use of hydropower is for electric power generation. That allows low cost energy to be used at long distances from the watercourse.
Hydroelectric power.
Hydroelectric power now supplies about 715,000 MWe or 19% of world electricity (16% in 2003). Large dams are still being designed. Apart from a few countries with a plenty of it, hydro power is normally applied to peak load demand because it is readily stopped and started. Nevertheless, hydroelectric power is probably not a major option for the future of
