Costs



Hydroelectric power is the cheapest source of energy to produce. In 1999 it cost about .7 cents per Kilowatt hour compared to fossil-fueled steam, which cost about 2.1 cents per Kilowatt hour. This is shown in the figure to the left (“Reclamation Managing,” 2005, p. 17). While these numbers are slightly outdated, the same fact remains true today. This is because hydropower is not affected by rising fuel costs like most other electricity producers including nuclear energy, fossil fuels, and gas turbines ("Reclamation Managing," 2005, p. 17).

Also, many hydropower plants produce income for the area around it. The increase in water depth results in more recreational water use and the water can be used to improve irrigation for the farmers in the area  ("Reclamation Managing," 2005, p. 16). This improvement in irrigation will result in more crops and more revenue for the farmers and the economy overall  ("Reclamation Managing," 2005, p. 20).

One of the major unseen costs with these large dams is with environmental concerns. Many environmental issues like the ones discussed in previous sections are very expensive to fix. Some of these issues are so expensive that a possible option is to remove the dams  (Hasling, Moore, 2008, p. 344). This shows the weight of these issues, but if they get fixed, hydroelectric power will be the most cost effective way to create electricity.

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