Water turbine

A rotary machine that extracts energy from moving or falling water and converts it into mechanical power, often to drive an electric generator.

Impulse turbine: A turbine in which a high-speed water jet transfers momentum to a runner at approximately atmospheric pressure. Pelton machines use this approach, converting a concentrated jet’s kinetic energy into rotation.
Hydropower: Electricity or useful mechanical power produced from the energy of flowing or falling water. Water turbines are the rotating prime movers in many hydropower systems.
Run-of-the-river hydroelectricity: Hydroelectric generation that uses a river’s flow with little or no long-term water storage. Its turbines must operate with the river’s available flow rather than a large regulating reservoir.
Turbine: A rotary machine that extracts energy from a moving fluid and converts it into mechanical power. Water turbines are one fluid-specific branch of the broader turbine family.
Fish-friendly turbine: A water turbine designed to reduce injury and mortality when fish pass through it. Runner geometry and operating conditions can change the ecological costs of hydropower.
Reaction turbine: A turbine whose runner extracts energy from both water pressure and flow velocity while submerged. Francis and Kaplan designs rely on pressure changes through the runner, unlike jet-driven machines.
Water wheel: A wheel driven directly by flowing or falling water, often operating at lower speeds and efficiencies than modern turbines. It is a simpler predecessor that converts water motion into rotation by a different design.
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity: A grid-storage method that pumps water uphill when electricity is plentiful and releases it through turbines when demand rises. Reversible turbine-pump units help store and return electrical energy.
Wind turbine: A rotor-and-generator system that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electricity. It extracts energy from a compressible gas rather than dense, constrained water.
Fish ladder: A structure that lets migrating fish move past a dam or other barrier in a waterway. It addresses a migration barrier often created by turbine-associated dams.

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