Timeline

1752: In 1752, with the discovery of electricity, little did Benjamin Franklin know that he had just found a new task for water? Water could now serve a new an important function: hydropower that creates hydroelectricity

1870 - In 1870, worlds first hydroelectric power plan began to generating electricity to the small town of Crag side, England.

1878 - In 1878, it was used for home electric lighting for the first time, with Crag side House of Northumberland, England being the first house lit by hydroelectricity.

September 30, 1882: The world's first hydroelectric power plant began operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin.

1881-1886: the Niagara River area around the Niagara Falls were developed for hydroelectric generation

1933-1942: the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest dam in the United States, was constructed. It is located along the Columbia River in central Washington State.

1937: Bonneville Dam, the first Federal dam, begins operation on the Columbia River.

1945: hydroelectricity accounted for 94% of total electricity generation in Canada. Today it accounts for approximately two-thirds of all electricity generation.

1975 - 1991: construction on the Itaipu Dam was completed. It is located on the Parana River, bordering Brazil and Paraguay, and is the largest hydroelectricity generating plant in South America and second largest in the world, next to the Three Gorges Dam.

May 20, 2006-Contruction and completed for the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric dam, which is located on the Yangtze River in China.