Comparison to conventional hydro[edit]
A low-head hydro project generally describes an installation with a fall of water less than 5 metres (16 ft).[citation needed] Most current hydroelectric projects require a large hydraulic head to power turbines to generate electricity. The hydraulic head either occurs naturally, such as a waterfall, or is created by constructing a dam in a river bed, creating a reservoir. Using a controlled release of water from the reservoir creates the head required to turn the turbines. The costs and environmental impacts of constructing a dam make traditional hydroelectric projects difficult to construct.
Damless hydro captures the kinetic energy of rivers, channels, spillways, irrigation systems, tides and oceans without the use of dams.[2]
Construction of a dam and reservoir has many environmental effects. For example, the damming of a river “blocks the movement both of fish upstream to spawn and of silt downstream to fertilize fields”.[3] In addition, “the vegetation overwhelmed by the rising water decays to form methane – a far worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide