Climate Smart Small-Scale Hydro Power Plants provides empirical guidance to practitioners seeking to optimize design and adapt the operation of small hydro power plants (SHPPs) to mitigate climate change. The work covers current positions, practices and impacts of SHPP as part of a diversifying sustainable energy mix threatened by the uncertain vagaries of climate change - including violent flooding, inconsistent rain fall, poor catchment management, and water flow rises. In addition, it presents an argument for 'climate smart' SHPP planning and design which integrates qualitative and quantitative climate-change context-sensitive aspects into the design of SHPP systems. Chapters review practical examples of hydro-ecological regimes where small hydro power plants play a vital component in the overall energy mix, focusing on social, ecological and economic dimensions of safeguarding, key policies and operational practices. Case studies are used to assess progress and future steps in achieving SHPP climate smart systems, blending comparative review, integration and analysis.
