Energy

Hydroelectric

Hydroelectric plants

Regulated outflow power plants

These plants are natural water basins (lakes) or artificial lakes (like many tanks) and sometimes the capacity of water basins increases by means of barriers (many times barriers are dams that are tens of metres high). It is possible to modify the quantity of water used by the power plant. Today these are the most powerful and exploited plants, although they have an environmental impact. They can be used as energy “accumulators” during peak hours by pumping water at night. In general these plants have more than 10 MW power and reach an extremely high power: for example, Itaipu plant in Brazil has a basin of 1,460 square Km extension (4 times as much as Garda lake).