July has been one of the wettest in recent history with thousands of UK homes flooded as rivers overflowed their banks and drainage systems just couldn’t cope. 

Despite this dramatic reminder of the power of water, major hydro electric power projects need dammed water to drive a turbines or generators and the energy extracted depends on the volume of dammed water and the difference in height between the source and the water’s outflow. Creating dams and utilising large areas of land to contain the necessary water needs plenty of available space which is perhaps why the leading five countries for hydro electric production are China, Canada, Brazil and the USA.

Hydro power plays a major part in the worlds energy programme. It produces around 19% of world electricity and is by far the largest renewable energy source.

The UK is a relatively minor player in the worlds’ hydro-electric power tables (just 2% of UK power comes from hydro), but it can claim to have built the world’s first hydro-electric power station at Cragside, Rotherbury, completed in 1870 and UK hydro consultancy firms are in demand internationally for their technical and project management expertise. The UK is also one of the leading players in the development of tidal energy and the department of trade and investment is predicting that with some of the best wave resources to be found anywhere in the world, tidal energy could provide as much as 20% of the UK’s current electricity needs from this renewable source.