Regulatory framework
Hydroelectric power plants are especially suited to locations with reliable, serviceable water sources and good options for connecting to existing power grids. In regions currently lacking an extensive power grid, installing a hydroelectric power plant as the centre of a stand-alone system can support the economic revival of the entire region.
- Layout of a fairly typical micro-hydropower installation. The fall of the water from the “forebay tank” to the powerhouse, where the turbine generator set is located, provides the energy. A variety of system designs are possible.
Constructing large hydroelectric power plants means modifying the landscape, particularly where the necessary head height has to be artificially created. Legal provisions regulating water, environmental and landscape conservation must therefore be taken into account when designing hydroelectric power plants.
In contrast to so-called “large hydropower”, small hydropower (SHP) is regarded as renewable, clean and reliable. There is, however, no international consensus on the definition of small hydropower. In Germany, plants with an output of up to 1 MW are regarded as small hydropower. In China the term “small hydropower” can refer to plants with outputs of up to 50 MW, in India to those producing up to 25 MW and in Sweden to plants generating up to 1.5 MW. A total output capacity of up to 10 MW has become the generally recognised standard of the European Small Hydropower Association (ESHA).
