在人们的印象中,澳大利亚是世界上最干旱的大陆,但有着丰富的煤资源,这就不难理解为什么把已建的大型火电站作为国家基本能源的理由了,不过水能利用在澳大利亚已有漫长的历史,这可以追溯到淘金热的年代,那时采矿工程师创建了许多精巧的小水力系统,其中,有用水轮机直接作为机械动力的,也有用水力驱动涡轮发电机发电的。本世纪初到五十年代,100千瓦到1.5万千瓦的小水电机组是很普遍的,其中有些至今仍 Australia is the most arid continent in the world, but with abundant coal resources, it is not difficult to understand why the large-scale power plant has been built as a national basic energy source, but the water can be used in Australia. There is a long history, which goes back to the days of the Gold Rush, when mining engineers created many small, compact hydraulic systems in which turbines were used directly as mechanical and hydropower turbines to generate electricity. From the early 1950s to the early 1950s, small hydropower units of 100 to 1.5 GW were common, some of which still