Hydropower and hydroelectric power plants

Every flowing water generates energy, through its mass flow and through its potential energy, usually represented by the waterfall height, an energy flow that is converted into mechanical energy and further into electrical energy. The height of the fall, in the case of water, sometimes leads to the same speed as that of the air over Patagonia. However, the enormous density significantly changes the orders of magnitude between hydroelectric and wind power plants: The largest wind turbine, GE Cypress in the Netherlands, has a maximum capacity of 5.3 megawatts – the "Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Plant" in China 22,500 megawatts. The power in the electrical, wind and water flow has the same roots: an intensity (electric current, mass flow of air and water) and a potential (electric voltage, wind speed, water speed due to the difference in altitude). The diversity of hydroelectric power plants in the world lies in the type of combination between large/low mass flow and flow velocity caused by high or low head.