The Emergence of Hydropower in the 19th Century

Power grids are undergoing an epoch-making evolution since many countries, notably those in the European Union, aim at decarbonizing energy in the next decades, namely phasing-out fossil fuel sources and replacing them with renewable energy sources (RESs), in the framework of climate change mitigation and strategic sources independence from importation. Among RESs, hydropower remains the most diffuse and boasts the most successful story, with a development that started more than 140 years ago when electrical technologies fostered the transition from the First to the Second Industrial Revolution.