Editing Small hydro (section)

=== Advantages and disadvantages ===
The primary advantages of small hydro development include low costs to build and the ability to remain disconnected from centralized power grids. Contentious points within small hydropower development include issues in [[environmental justice]], regulatory oversight, and environmental impacts. 

In a number of communities which lack essential electricity access, small hydro offers a reliable source of [[decentralized electricity]]. Small hydro projects do not always require significant government assistance and gaps in governance allow them to be built fairly easily.<ref name=":3">{{Citation |last=Patel |first=Alan P. Diduck, Richard Johnson, Esther Edwards, A. John Sinclair, James Gardner, Kirit |title=Small hydro and environmental justice: Lessons from the Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh |date=2021 |work=Advancing Environmental Justice for Marginalized Communities in India |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003141228-7/small-hydro-environmental-justice-alan-diduck-richard-johnson-esther-edwards-john-sinclair-james-gardner-kirit-patel |access-date=2024-02-23 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781003141228-7 |isbn=978-1-003-14122-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Given these policy gaps, small hydropower as a renewable, climate mitigation strategy can also negatively affect local livelihoods in the absence of community-minded policy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kelly-Richards |first1=Sarah |last2=Silber-Coats |first2=Noah |last3=Crootof |first3=Arica |last4=Tecklin |first4=David |last5=Bauer |first5=Carl |date=2017-02-01 |title=Governing the transition to renewable energy: A review of impacts and policy issues in the small hydropower boom |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301421516306401 |journal=Energy Policy |volume=101 |pages=251–264 |bibcode=2017EnPol.101..251K |doi=10.1016/j.enpol.2016.11.035 |issn=0301-4215|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The environmental impacts of small hydropower projects are understudied. Within [[Run-of-the-river hydroelectricity|run-of-river]] design projects, the greatest harm for water systems are flow regime alteration, loss of river cohesion and connectivity, and habitat degradation effecting fish and macroinvertebrates.<ref name=":42">{{Cite journal |last1=Kuriqi |first1=Alban |last2=Pinheiro |first2=António N. |last3=Sordo-Ward |first3=Alvaro |last4=Bejarano |first4=María D. |last5=Garrote |first5=Luis |date=2021-05-01 |title=Ecological impacts of run-of-river hydropower plants—Current status and future prospects on the brink of energy transition |journal=Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews |volume=142 |pages=110833 |bibcode=2021RSERv.14210833K |doi=10.1016/j.rser.2021.110833 |issn=1364-0321 |doi-access=free}}</ref>[[File:Small hydro power plant "Sveta Petka".IMG 0013.jpg|thumb|An example of a small hydro power plant, Sveta Petka. ]]