You can add hydropower generation or grid flexibility without building a new conventional dam across a river. The main routes are upgrading existing plants, installing turbines at dams that currently produce no electricity, recovering energy in canals and pipelines, using diversion or run-of-river layouts, and deploying pumped-storage facilities when the real need is electricity storage. These choices are not interchangeable: most produce electricity, while pumped storage shifts electricity through time and consumes power during pumping.
The best option depends on the available water flow and elevation, existing infrastructure, environmental constraints, grid connection, permitting obligations and the service the grid needs. Avoiding a new dam structure also avoids some impacts, but no pathway is automatically impact-free.
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What “alternatives” can provide
A conventional hydropower dam usually creates a reservoir by obstructing a river. Alternatives can pursue three different outcomes:
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- Generation with less impoundment: divert part of a river through a canal or penstock, often described as diversion or run-of-river hydropower.
- Storage and flexibility: use pumped storage to absorb electricity when supply is high and generate when demand is high. Pumped storage is not a source of net new primary energy.
Each pathway still requires site-specific engineering, water-rights analysis, environmental review, interconnection studies and a credible business case. A project that avoids a new dam wall may still alter flows, fish movement, habitat, land use or community conditions.
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1. Upgrade an existing hydropower plant
Modernizing a plant that already has a dam, water conveyance and grid connection is often the most direct way to increase capacity or improve reliability. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) identifies three broad interventions: adding generating units, refurbishing existing equipment and replacing equipment. Its overview is available in Innovations for Low-Impact Hydropower Growth.
Add units where the civil works have spare capacity
An existing dam or powerhouse may have unused bays, intake capacity, water conveyance or transmission capability. Installing an additional turbine-generator can raise maximum output without constructing a second river-blocking structure. Whether this is practical depends on available head and flow, intake geometry, powerhouse space, sediment conditions, seasonal operating rules and the strength of the grid connection.
Adding a unit does not automatically increase annual energy production. If the plant is already constrained by water availability, environmental minimum flows, irrigation releases or downstream flood-control rules, a larger nameplate may be used only during limited periods. A feasibility study should distinguish capacity (the maximum instantaneous output) from annual generation and from the hours when the grid can actually use the output.
Refurbish turbines, generators and controls
Refurbishment can restore lost capability, improve efficiency over the operating range and reduce forced outages. Work may include turbine runners, generators, bearings, governors, excitation systems, transformers, switchgear, control systems, penstocks and auxiliary equipment. Modern controls can improve dispatch and coordination with variable wind or solar generation, while maintenance and safety upgrades can extend the useful life of civil and electromechanical assets.
Efficiency gains are not a universal percentage. They depend on the original design, wear, sediment abrasion, operating point and the replacement equipment selected. DOE’s six-question modernization guide emphasizes examining the facility’s actual condition and operating context rather than assuming a standard output increase.
Replace equipment and improve environmental performance
Replacement can address obsolete machinery, improve monitoring and make a plant more flexible. Projects may also incorporate fish-protection measures, improved dissolved-oxygen management, safer passage arrangements, upgraded spillway controls and better flow measurement. These changes can reduce particular risks, but they do not eliminate the need to evaluate the river’s connectivity, temperature, sediment movement and downstream habitat.
Check constraints before approving a modernization scope
Before treating a refurbishment as a guaranteed capacity project, assess:
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- Equipment: turbine and generator condition, cavitation or abrasion, outage history and remaining service life.
- Water operations: irrigation, municipal supply, navigation, recreation, flood control and other authorized purposes.
- Dam safety: structural condition, spillway adequacy, seismic requirements and emergency action plans.
- Grid connection: transformer and transmission limits, interconnection queue status and the value of fast-ramping capability.
- Regulation: relicensing, consultation, fish passage, cultural resources and construction permits.
DOE also describes virtual modeling as a way to test facility changes before committing to major work. The department does not provide a universal output estimate because the result is specific to each plant. More background appears in Why and How Should We Modernize U.S. Hydropower Facilities?
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2. Add generation to an existing non-powered dam
Many dams were built for water supply, irrigation, flood control, navigation or recreation rather than electricity. Adding a powerhouse or modular turbine can use an existing elevation drop and operating pool without building another dam across a river. DOE reports that fewer than 3% of more than 90,000 dams in the United States produce power, according to its Types of Hydropower Plants page. That figure is a national screening indicator, not a claim that the remaining dams are all feasible sites.
What makes a non-powered dam a candidate
A candidate normally needs a usable combination of head (the elevation difference), dependable flow, a physically suitable intake and powerhouse location, and a nearby interconnection. The dam owner’s operating purpose must remain achievable. For example, a turbine cannot take water in a way that compromises required irrigation deliveries, navigation levels or flood-storage rules.
Existing structures can reduce the need for new excavation and inundation, but construction may still require cofferdams, access roads, transmission work, powerhouse excavation and modifications to outlets or spillways. The dam’s condition and safety requirements can dominate the project cost.
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- What are the normal and extreme water levels, and how much head is available through the year?
- Can the turbine operate within the dam’s authorized release pattern?
- Is there a safe route for fish and other aquatic organisms around the new intake and powerhouse?
- Can the local distribution or transmission system accept the output?
- Who owns the dam, water rights and electrical facilities, and how will responsibilities be divided?
- Will adding generation trigger relicensing, environmental review or changes to the dam’s license?
Retrofitting an existing dam avoids constructing a new dam body, but it does not make ecological or social review optional. The reservoir, altered release pattern and downstream conditions already affect the river, and a new intake or operating rule can add effects.
3. Recover energy in canals, pipelines and other conveyance systems
Water moving through an irrigation canal, municipal pipeline, water-supply conduit or industrial conveyance may contain usable pressure or elevation head. DOE identifies pipelines, irrigation canals and other waterways as potential locations for low-impact hydropower opportunities. A turbine can be placed where water drops in elevation or where pressure must otherwise be reduced.
How in-conduit generation works
In a pipeline, a turbine may replace or work alongside a pressure-reducing valve. In a canal, a small drop structure, check structure or existing fall can provide head. The generator produces electricity while water continues toward its primary destination. The design must preserve required delivery volume, pressure, water quality and timing.
Generation is therefore subordinate to the conveyance system’s original purpose. Irrigation demand, seasonal maintenance, drought restrictions and emergency shutdowns determine when the turbine can run. A project may produce little during periods when water deliveries are low, even if its theoretical head and flow look attractive.
Site data that determine feasibility
- Flow rate and pressure or elevation head, measured across the full operating season.
- Allowable pressure changes and maximum transient pressure during starts and stops.
- Water quality, debris, sediment and the need for screens or bypasses.
- Pipe or canal geometry, access for construction and maintenance, and available space for electrical equipment.
- Water-delivery priorities, shutdown procedures and the owner’s authority to modify the system.
- Interconnection distance, protection equipment and the value of electricity at the point of use.
Not every canal or pipe has enough head, flow or operating continuity to support an economical turbine. Generation can also introduce maintenance points, debris risks and control requirements, so “using existing infrastructure” does not mean zero construction or zero operational effect.
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4. Use diversion or run-of-river designs
In a diversion project, part of a river is routed through a canal and/or penstock to use the natural decline in the riverbed’s elevation, then returned downstream. DOE distinguishes this arrangement from a conventional storage plant in Types of Hydropower Plants. Depending on the site, a diversion facility may use a small intake structure rather than a large dam and reservoir.
Why diversion can reduce inundation
Because the design generally does not depend on a large impoundment, it can avoid flooding a broad valley and the associated relocation or loss of agricultural, natural or archaeological areas. It may also preserve more of the river’s longitudinal connectivity than a large reservoir, although the result depends on the intake, bypass reach, return point and operating rules.
Why “run-of-river” is not impact-free
A diversion still changes where water flows. The bypassed reach may receive less water at some times; an intake can affect fish movement and sediment transport; construction can disturb habitat; and the powerhouse and penstock require land and access. Downstream temperature, dissolved oxygen, flow timing and sediment conditions can change. Fish injuries and deaths at turbines remain a consideration, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) discusses these and other effects in Hydropower and the Environment.
Run-of-river output also follows river conditions more closely than reservoir-based generation. Seasonal drought, low winter flows or environmental bypass requirements can limit production. The International Energy Agency (IEA) describes run-of-river hydropower as the smallest growth segment in its 2021–2030 forecast, partly because many projects in that segment are small facilities below 10 MW. That forecast is a market outlook, not a guarantee for an individual site.
Design and permitting questions
- What minimum flow must remain in the natural channel, and how is it measured?
- How will fish pass the intake, diversion structure and powerhouse?
- Where will sediment go during floods, and can the system be flushed without harming downstream habitat?
- How will the project handle extreme floods, debris and ice?
- What construction footprint, roads, tunnels or penstocks are required?
- Does the project need new water rights, a license amendment or consultation with affected communities and tribes?
5. Choose pumped storage when the need is flexibility
Pumped storage uses two reservoirs at different elevations. During periods of surplus or low-cost electricity, pumps move water uphill. When demand rises or another generator is unavailable, water flows downhill through turbines to produce electricity. DOE explains the technology in Pumped Storage Hydropower.
Storage is not new primary energy
The pumping cycle consumes electricity, and the turbine later returns only part of that electricity. Pumped storage can provide capacity, ramping, reserve, frequency support and energy shifting, but it does not create net new energy in the way a river-flow generation project does. It is appropriate when the grid needs electricity at a different time, not when the objective is simply to increase annual renewable generation without an accompanying source of charging electricity.
Open-loop and closed-loop configurations
DOE distinguishes open-loop systems, which maintain a hydrologic connection to a natural water body, from closed-loop systems, whose reservoirs are not continuously connected to an outside water body. A closed-loop layout can reduce dependence on a river connection, but it still requires reservoirs, tunnels or penstocks, transmission, roads and a water supply for initial filling and replacement losses. It is not automatically easy to permit or environmentally benign.
When pumped storage makes sense
Pumped storage is most useful where there is a large elevation difference, suitable geology, access to transmission and a market that pays for flexibility services as well as energy. The IEA’s Hydropower Special Market Report executive summary describes pumped storage’s business case as difficult and notes that its value depends partly on compensation for flexibility services.
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DOE’s current page lists 43 pumped-storage plants in the United States; that page figure can change as facilities are added or retired. DOE also reports, citing the 2024 edition of the Hydropower Market Report, that pumped storage accounted for 88% of U.S. utility-scale energy storage. The statistic applies to the stated U.S. utility-scale scope and the 2024 report edition, not to all forms of storage or all countries.
The IEA forecast pumped storage to represent 30% of global net hydropower capacity additions during 2021–2030. This is a 2020 forecast, not a measured result. Its relevance is that storage projects can grow even when the objective is grid flexibility rather than additional river-derived energy.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the alternatives compare
| Pathway | Primary purpose | Main infrastructure | Water and site dependency | Key environmental and community questions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modernize an operating plant | Increase output, efficiency, reliability or flexibility | Existing dam, powerhouse, turbines and grid connection | Existing head and inflow; constrained by current water operations | Fish passage, release rules, construction outages, dam safety and relicensing |
| Add generation to a non-powered dam | Create new generation at an existing impoundment | Existing dam and reservoir; new intake, powerhouse and electrical works | Head, dependable releases and structural condition | New intake effects, altered releases, habitat, sediment, construction and affected uses |
| Canal or pipeline hydropower | Recover energy from water already being conveyed | Existing conduit or canal plus turbine, controls and interconnection | Flow, pressure/head, delivery schedule and water quality | Water-delivery reliability, fish or debris controls, access and maintenance footprint |
| Diversion or run-of-river | Generate from natural elevation drop with limited or no large reservoir | Intake, canal or penstock, powerhouse and return channel | Seasonal river flow, elevation and bypass reach | River connectivity, minimum flows, fish passage, sediment, habitat and construction |
| Pumped storage | Store electricity and provide capacity or balancing services | Upper and lower reservoirs, pumps, turbines, waterways and transmission | Elevation difference, geology, water supply and grid access | Land and water use, reservoir impacts, construction, community effects and open- or closed-loop connection |
The table is a screening framework, not a substitute for engineering, financial modeling or environmental review. DOE notes that many low-impact hydropower opportunities are smaller and can be expensive to develop with existing technologies.
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EIA reports that dams and reservoirs can affect fish migration, river temperature, water chemistry, flow characteristics and silt loads. Reservoirs may cover natural, agricultural or archaeological areas, and project operations can result in relocation. EIA also notes that the greenhouse-gas emissions of hydropower reservoirs are uncertain and vary by site and region. It is therefore inaccurate to label every hydropower project either emissions-free or uniformly high-emitting.
Alternatives change the impact profile rather than removing it. A plant upgrade may avoid new inundation but prolong or intensify operation of an existing barrier. A canal turbine may have a small physical footprint but compete with water-delivery maintenance. A diversion may avoid a large reservoir yet reduce flow in a bypassed reach. Pumped storage may avoid a continuous river connection in a closed-loop design while creating substantial reservoirs, tunnels and transmission works.
Compare projects using the same questions:
- Connectivity: Will fish and sediment move through the river, around the intake or between reservoirs?
- Flow: What changes in minimum flow, timing, peaking and downstream release patterns occur?
- Habitat: Which aquatic, riparian, terrestrial or cultural resources are disturbed or inundated?
- Water: Is water available during drought, and are existing users protected?
- Construction: What roads, tunnels, transmission lines, cofferdams and staging areas are needed?
- Communities: Are land acquisition, recreation changes, relocation, cultural resources or tribal rights involved?
- Operations: Can turbines, pumps and safety systems be maintained without compromising the original water purpose?
A practical screening process for a proposed site
Step 1: Define the grid service
State whether the project is intended to supply more annual energy, add peak capacity, provide fast ramping, replace aging equipment, or shift electricity from one time of day to another. This first decision separates generation projects from pumped storage.
Step 2: Inventory existing assets
Map operating hydropower plants, non-powered dams, canals, pipelines, reservoirs, substations and transmission constraints. Record ownership, operating licenses, water rights, safety requirements and planned maintenance.
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Step 3: Quantify water and elevation
Use measured flow records, head profiles and seasonal operating data rather than a single design-day value. Model drought, flood and maintenance conditions. For conveyance systems, include pressure limits and delivery schedules; for pumped storage, include reservoir volume, elevation difference and cycle losses.
Step 4: Identify non-negotiable constraints
List minimum flows, fish passage obligations, navigation levels, irrigation deliveries, municipal supply, flood-control rules, cultural resources, protected habitat and community commitments. Eliminate concepts that cannot meet these requirements before detailed design.
Step 5: Estimate the complete project
Include civil works, turbines or pumps, controls, electrical interconnection, transmission upgrades, roads, construction access, environmental mitigation, monitoring, licensing, financing, insurance, maintenance and eventual replacement. Compare annual energy and dependable capacity separately.
Step 6: Test the revenue model
Generation projects may earn from energy and capacity; pumped storage also needs compensation for charging, discharging and flexibility services. A technically attractive project can fail if the market does not value its timing and reliability.
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Step 7: Conduct formal review with affected parties
Engage dam and water-system owners, regulators, communities, tribes, fish and wildlife agencies, utilities and landowners early. Site-specific review is essential because national statistics and generic technology descriptions cannot determine local feasibility.
Common mistakes when comparing dam alternatives
Confusing nameplate capacity with useful output
A larger turbine rating does not guarantee more annual electricity. Water availability, environmental releases and the operating purpose of the facility determine how often the equipment can run.
Calling pumped storage “new hydropower generation”
Pumped storage generates during discharge but first consumes electricity to pump. Evaluate it as storage and grid flexibility, including round-trip losses and charging conditions.
Assuming an existing structure means no permitting
New intakes, powerhouses, turbines, altered releases, transmission lines and reservoir operations can trigger safety reviews, environmental consultation, license changes and construction permits even when the dam itself is old.
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Treating run-of-river as impact-free
Without a large reservoir, diversion projects can still affect bypassed flows, fish passage, sediment, habitat, construction areas and downstream conditions. The label describes an operating arrangement, not an environmental verdict.
Using national percentages as a site decision
The fact that fewer than 3% of more than 90,000 U.S. dams generate electricity indicates a large screening universe. It does not reveal which dams have adequate head, flow, access, structural capacity or acceptable environmental effects.
Ignoring the original water mission
Electricity is often secondary to drinking water, irrigation, flood control, navigation or recreation. Any turbine or pump must operate within those obligations, including unusual drought and flood conditions.
Bottom line for planners
Start with assets and services, not with a preferred technology. Upgrade an existing plant when equipment or controls limit output; evaluate non-powered dams where head, releases and grid access align; look at canals and pipelines when water is already under pressure or dropping; consider diversion or run-of-river where a natural elevation drop can provide generation without a large reservoir; and choose pumped storage when the system needs time-shifting and balancing rather than net new primary energy. Then compare each option’s water use, river effects, land and community footprint, construction needs, licensing path and revenue against the same site-specific baseline.
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