Theme: Energy
Award: N/A
Photographer: Richard Mu
Niagra Falls is the second-largest capacity hydroelectric power plant in the United States. Second only to Grand Coulee Dam, it has a capacity greater than that of Hoover Dam. The Robert Moses Niagra Hydroelectric Power Station was the most powerful hydroelectric plant in the Western Hemisphere at the time of its completion. Earlier dams that sat on Niagra Falls, including Schoelkopf Power Station No. 1 (the first hydroelectric power plant in the United States, completed three years after the first hydroelectric power plant in the world), gives Niagra Falls a long history in the development and utilization of hydroelectricity.As a conventional hydroelectric power plant, The Robert Moses Niagra Hydroelectric Power Station creates energy through the energy of flowing water turning a turbine and powering a generator. There is also a secondary plant, called the Lewiston Pump-Generating Plant, that generates electricity through pumped-storage ultilzing the Robert Moses Niagra Hydroelectric Power Station again.Note: This photo is completely unedited.