Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed and launched the Water Allocation Tool Enabling Rapid Small Hydropower Environmental Design (waterSHED) tool, which aims to reduce the time and money developers must spend evaluating the design, operation, and feasibility of new, small hydropower projects at streams and sites with existing water infrastructure like non-powered dams. By rapidly evaluating potential sites, developers can quickly determine how to best use existing water resources to provide power and support environmental services like fish and sediment passage. The expedited optimization process—which uses novel metrics for economic, environmental, and social performance to help quantify design tradeoffs and identify win-win scenarios—saves developers time and money during site evaluation. 

Results from tests of the waterSHED tool, which is a Python application, were discussed in several case studies. This includes one study by Natel Energy that evaluated the costs and potential benefits related to fish passage for the company’s turbine design compared to conventional designs.  

The tool currently exists as open-source code with multiple user-friendly functionalities. Future testing and industry case studies could make it even more user-friendly and prove the waterSHED tool could be an important part of small hydropower development.