Small hydro

Small hydro is the development of hydroelectric power on a scale serving a small community or industrial plant. The definition of a small hydro project varies, but a generating capacity of 1 to 20 megawatts (MW) is generally accepted, which aligns to the concept of distributed generation. The "small hydro" description may be stretched up to 50 MW in the United States, Canada and China. In contrast many hydroelectric projects are of enormous size, such as the generating plant at the Hoover Dam of 2,074 MW or the vast multiple projects of the Tennessee Valley Authority.