Description:
Hydropower, generating electricity through turbines, represents a clean and renewable energy source, but not without problems. Dams and reservoirs disrupt the natural flow, and may increase siltation and evaporation, in addition to severe impacts for wildlife, for instance migrating fish. The gross theoretical capability, presented in this map, represents a calculation based on the topography and precipitation in the countries, and is the amount power that could be extracted if all run-off was turbined down to the lowest level of the specified country (sea-level). Even though hydropower is reasonally well developed today, there are still some possibilities to increase the effectiveness, and introduce new hydropower plants, thus reducing the dependency on mineral fuels, such as oil, coal and gas.