OverviewPropertiesHistoryFuture potentialGenerating methodsSizes, types and capacities of hydroelectric facilitiesHydro power by countryEconomics
Hydropower is a flexible source of electricity since stations can be ramped up and down very quickly to adapt to changing energy demands. Hydro turbines have a start-up time of the order of a few minutes. Although battery power is quicker its capacity is tiny compared to hydro. It takes less than 10 minutes to bring most hydro units from cold start-up to full load; this is quicker than nuclea