ABSTRACT
The economic exploitation of existing agricultural infrastructure is a policy that has recently attracted the interest of the public sector, the local communities and investors, worldwide. In January 2013 the US Congress approved an “Hydropower Regulatory Effi ciency Act” that promoted hydropower development in existing infrastructure. Agricultural infrastructure has, an important construction cost because its basic elements (irrigation networks, pumping stations and others) have a substantial
installation cost. In many cases the need for fl ow alterations of nearby creeks/rivers and the corresponding dam construction dramatically increases the total cost.
