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We have been harnessing water to perform work for thousands of years. The Greeks used water wheels for grinding wheat into flour more than 2,000 years ago. More recently we have used the power of water to saw wood and power textile mills and manufacturing plants. Since the second half of the 19th century, the technology for using falling water to create hydroelectricity has existed.

Hydroelectric power supplies 20% of world electricity. Norway produces virtually all of its electricity from hydro whilst Iceland and Austria produce over 70% of their electricity requirements from hydro plants.

There are three types of hydroelectric scheme:

Impoundment, where a dam is built across a river impounding a head of water behind it in a reservoir which can then be released through a turbine to generate electricity.

A Diversion, sometimes called run-of-river, facility channels a portion of a river through a canal. It may not require the use of a dam and thus has a lower environmental impact.

Pumped Storage. When the demand for electricity is low, a pumped storage facility stores energy by pumping water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir. During periods of high electrical demand, the water is released back through a turbine to the lower reservoir to generate electricity.

The Dinorwig Pumped Storage Power Station in Snowdonia generating up to 1728 MW of electricity runs tours of the facility daily during May to August and by arrangement for groups during other months.