ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the technologies involved in producing electricity from hydropower, and is followed by estimates of current installed capacity both for conventional and small-scale hydropower development. It presents estimates for potential development and selected policy issues and options important for the future development of small-scale hydropower. The chapter addresses factors which could affect the extent to which small-scale hydropower projects move forward in the near future. Although these factors can be classified as economic, legal and institutional, and environmental issues, they are interrelated in significant ways. Developers of small-scale hydropower sites face a range of economic, legal/institutional, and environmental obstacles which must be addressed in order to make the project a successful business enterprise. Hydropower development in the United States is a highly regulated activity which must coordinate its goals both with broad national interests such as protection of the environment and interstate commerce, and with more narrow, individual claims to use of waters in specific rivers and streams.
