Pros and cons of hydroelectric energy?

Answer 1

PROS = Hydroelectric energy offers a number of advantages for people who use it, the environment, and electricity suppliers. Read on to learn more about the advantages of hydroelectric power:
1. Using this type of energy to generate electricity is not dependent upon the price of uranium, oil, or other types of fuel. This makes electricity costs lower and more stable, one of its most significant advantages.
2. The pollution created by hydroelectric energy generation is quite minimal. There is some pollution involved in initially constructing the power stations, but this is true of all power plants. It also does not produce radioactive waste or involve the environmental impact of fuel being transported to it.
3. It doesn't require many employees to run a hydroelectric station. According to wikipedia.org, most plants of this type are largely automated. This is another one of the advantages which help keep the cost of hydroelectricity low.
4. Hydroelectric power stations can be set up in almost any size, depending upon the river or stream used to operate them; big enough to power a single home, factory, small town, or large city.
5. Another of its advantages is that hydroelectric is a renewable form of energy, like wind and solar; it does not rely upon finite resources like natural gas or coal to generate power.
6. Hydroelectric stations can operate for many years after they are built. Wikipedia.org states that a number of operational hydro stations were constructed fifty to one-hundred years ago; in contrast to this, IAEA.org indicates that the "design life" of nuclear power plants is generally thirty to forty years.
7. Small hydro electricity generation systems sometimes offer more economic advantages for home owners than solar power, and tend to last longer than solar panels do.
The above-mentioned factors make hydroelectric a form of energy generation which offers advantages with regard to cost, pollution, flexibility of installation, and conservation of resources.


CONS= 1) Disrupts the aquatic ecosystems: The dams developed across the rivers can disturb the aquatic life and lead to their large scale destruction. There are chances that the fishes and other water animals may enter the penstock and ultimately the power generation turbines where they may get crashed. The dams can also disturb the mating seasons and mating areas of the water animals.
In some cases the water animals have to swim against the water stream during breeding seasons, in such cases the dams create hindrances on their paths. Such animals can also get trapped in the turbines and loose lives on large scale.
2) Disruption in the surrounding areas: The plant and animal life around the rivers thrives due to continuous fresh flowing water in the river. Due to construction of the dams lots of areas have to be cleared that disrupt the plant and animal life. In many cases even a number of trees have to be cut that destroys not only the plant life but also the animals dependent on them. Even changing the course of flow of water in the river due to construction of dam disrupts the plants and animals life.
3) Requires large areas: The construction of dam, the power generation unit and the Transformers and their connection to the national grid acquires large areas of the forest. The larger the land acquired for the dam, more is the disturbance to the natural ecosystem in the surrounding forest areas.
4) Large scale human displacement: For the construction of the dams even the human beings living in the areas surrounding the river have to be shifted. Human beings tend to have strong attachments to the lands occupied by them and their ancestors since hundreds of years. It is not easy to convince the people to leave the lands. People are convinced or forced to leave the land which not only is their shelter but also the source of income. In many instances, when people are snatched away of their lands, they are not given proper remuneration and the other land for resettlement. This creates large scale oppositions and revolts against construction of the dams.
In India we have seen one of the biggest oppositions to the one of the biggest hydroelectric power project named "Sardar Sarovar." Though millions of people are to benefit from the project, government didn't manage the important issue of the resettlement of people who were displaced from the adjoining areas of project. This led to one of biggest protest in Indian history, which saw a number of hunger strikes, protest marches and even the police attacks on the protesters.


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