Editing Hydropower (section)

===19th century===
In the 19th century, French engineer [[Benoît Fourneyron]] developed the first hydropower turbine. This device was implemented in the commercial plant of [[Niagara Falls]] in 1895 and it is still operating.{{sfn|Breeze|2018|p={{pn|date=March 2025}}}} In the early 20th century, English engineer [[William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong|William Armstrong]] built and operated the first private electrical power station which was located in his house in [[Cragside]] in [[Northumberland]], England.{{sfn|Breeze|2018|p={{pn|date=March 2025}}}} In 1753, the French engineer [[Bernard Forest de Bélidor]] published his book, ''Architecture Hydraulique'', which described vertical-axis and horizontal-axis hydraulic machines.<ref name="doehis">{{cite web |title=History of Hydropower |url=http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/hydro_history.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100126001540/http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/hydro_history.html |archive-date=26 January 2010 |publisher=US Department of Energy}}</ref>

The growing demand for the [[Industrial Revolution]] would drive development as well.<ref name="watenc">{{cite web |title=Hydroelectric Power |url=http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Ge-Hy/Hydroelectric-Power.html |publisher=Water Encyclopedia}}</ref> At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, water was the main power source for new inventions such as [[Richard Arkwright]]'s [[water frame]].<ref name="Perkin-1969">{{cite book |last=Perkin |first=Harold James |url= |title=The Origins of Modern English Society, 1780-1880 |date=1969 |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul PLC |isbn=978-0-7100-4567-6 |location=London |page= |author-link=Harold Perkin}}</ref> Although water power gave way to steam power in many of the larger mills and factories, it was still used during the 18th and 19th centuries for many smaller operations, such as driving the bellows in small [[blast furnace]]s (e.g. the [[Dyfi Furnace]]) and [[gristmill]]s, such as those built at [[Saint Anthony Falls]], which uses the {{convert|50|ft|m|adj=on}} drop in the [[Mississippi River]].<ref name="River of History">{{cite web |last1=Anfinson |first1=John |title=River of History: A Historic Resources Study of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area |url=https://www.nps.gov/miss/learn/historyculture/river-of-hisory-chapter-6.htm |website=River Of History |publisher=National Park System |access-date=12 July 2023}}</ref><ref name="Perkin-1969" />

Technological advances moved the open water wheel into an enclosed [[turbine]] or [[Water engine|water motor]]. In 1848, the British-American engineer [[James B. Francis]], head engineer of Lowell's Locks and Canals company, improved on these designs to create a turbine with 90% efficiency.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=B J |last2=Cimbala |last3=Wouden |year=2014 |title=Major historical developments in the design of water wheels and Francis hydroturbines |journal=IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science |publisher=IOP |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=5–7 |bibcode=2014E&ES...22a2020L |doi=10.1088/1755-1315/22/1/012020 |doi-access=free}}</ref> He applied scientific principles and testing methods to the problem of turbine design. His mathematical and graphical calculation methods allowed the confident design of high-efficiency turbines to exactly match a site's specific flow conditions. The [[Francis turbine|Francis reaction turbine]] is still in use. In the 1870s, deriving from uses in the California mining industry, [[Lester Allan Pelton]] developed the high-efficiency [[Pelton wheel|Pelton wheel impulse turbine]], which used hydropower from the high head streams characteristic of the [[Sierra Nevada]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}