Water power

Hydropower has been used since the inception of electricity generation at the end of the 19th century as, for example, a form of propulsion in mills and sawmills. For a long time it was the only significant regenerative energy source for power generation. Nowadays, hydropower is a fully-developed technology and the most used source of renewable energy in the world after traditional biomass. According to figures from various sources, about 16 to 19 percent of the world's entire net power consumption comes from this energy source. In Germany, hydropower was the most important regenerative energy source for a long time, but more power has been generated from wind than hydropower since 2004.

The opportunities for the economically viable use of hydropower depend to a large extent on the naturally-occurring conditions within a particular country. More than 20 countries in the world, such as Norway and Paraguay, cover up to 90 percent of their energy needs by means of hydropower and many others, such as Austria, Brazil, Venezuela and Canada, do so to a large extent.

Hydropower's main advantage lies in its relatively constant availability, high degree of efficiency and its ability to store energy. Thus, hydropower can make an important contribution to covering the basic load and to the stability of the main network. Hydropower plants are the most efficient of all of today's known energy generation systems. They are largely automated and incur comparatively low running costs. They also support planned water management, preventing catastrophes caused by flooding, making rivers navigable and solving irrigation problems.

Domestic sector
The amount of hydropower generated in Germany has generally been stable for a number of years. 21.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity was generated from hydropower in 2006. This made up 3.5 percent of the entire amount of electricity generated (source: AGEE-Stat, industry figures, as of April 2007). The entire output of the 7,500 plants installed in Germany amounted to approx. 4,680 megawatts at the end of 2006. Companies in the hydropower industry believe that there is still development potential of around 2,000 MW in Germany (source: Information Campaign for Renewable Energy, IKEE). In Germany, there is a manageable number of medium-sized and small companies and a few larger ones which produce turbines and other mechanical engineering components for the hydropower sector. Some of them have a long tradition and the corresponding experience in the development and use of hydropower technologies. The hydropower sector in Germany enjoyed an annual turnover of approx. 1.27 billion euros in 2006. 70 million of this was invested in new plants. At a rate of over 80 percent, exports play a particularly large role for the hydropower industry.