A new generation of small hydro and pumped-hydro power plants: Advances and future challenges

This paper traces an overview of the prospects of pumped-hydro energy storage plants and small hydro power plants in the light of sustainable development. Advances and future challenges in both turbine design and plant planning and management are proposed. PHES and hybrid wind/solar-PHES are illustrated and discussed, as well as the limits and peculiarities of the new design strategies, based on computational fluid dynamics, for both PHES and small hydropower plants.