page_title: Small hydro
hierarchical_section_title: Small hydro
caption_attribution_description: English: Ames Hydroelectric Plant, Ames vicinity, San Miguel County, CO INTERIOR VIEW (c.1900) OF 1895 POWER HOUSE SHOWING SWITCHBOARD ON LEFT AND GENERATOR ON RIGHT. HAER COLO,57-AMES.V,2A-6 Historic American Engineering Record photo URL: http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/co/co0000/co0030/photos/021933pv.jpg
context_page_description: Small hydro is the development of hydroelectric power on a scale suitable for local community and industry, or to contribute to distributed generation in a regional electricity grid. Precise definitions vary, but a "small hydro" project is less than 50 megawatts, and can be further subdivide by scale into "mini", "micro", "pico". In contrast many hydroelectric projects are of enormous size, such as the generating plant at the Three Gorges Dam at 22,500 megawatts or the vast multiple projects of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
  Small hydro projects may be built in isolated areas that would be uneconomic to serve from a national electricity grid, or in areas where a national grid does not exist.
context_section_description: Small hydro is the development of hydroelectric power on a scale suitable for local community and industry, or to contribute to distributed generation in a regional electricity grid. Precise definitions vary, but a "small hydro" project is less than 50 megawatts (MW), and can be further subdivide by scale into "mini" (<1MW), "micro" (<100 kW), "pico" (<10 kW). In contrast many hydroelectric projects are of enormous size, such as the generating plant at the Three Gorges Dam at 22,500 megawatts or the vast multiple projects of the Tennessee Valley Authority. 
  Small hydro projects may be built in isolated areas that would be uneconomic to serve from a national electricity grid, or in areas where a national grid does not exist.
caption: An 1895 hydroelectric plant near Telluride, Colorado.
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