Sustainability

The limits of hydroelectric

From the environmental viewpoint hydroelectric power plants are one of the best ways to produce electricity. Unfortunately there are some limits. In the first place, in Italy as in most parts of Europe, this type of resources was exploited almost fully, i.e. hydroelectric power plants were built in almost all locations where ideal conditions emerged to exploit the kinetic energy of water falling downhill. Therefore, increasing the number and power of the present hydroelectric power plants is difficult. Nevertheless, in other regions of the world this form of energy is widely available and still needs to be exploited. This is the case of Africa, where the limited fossil fuel resources, the low per capita energy consumption and the low prosperity level make this type of energy precious and important to support the economic development of African peoples. Another limit of hydroelectric power plants derives from the extension of the territories, which often need to be occupied and flooded by large dams aimed at collecting the necessary water to constantly move turbines. Therefore the original territorial balance is to be modified along with the natural routes of rivers, leading to a remarkable environmental impact on the ecosystem and economic impacts on other agricultural or industrial activities. Large basin-hydroelectric power plants require adequate environmental impact assessments, in order to guarantee that they do not interfere with the natural environment.