Research Status and Future Agenda in Small Hydropower from the Perspective of Sustainable Development Goals

As a renewable energy source, small hydropower (SHP) is an essential component of sustainable development. However, the importance of small hydropower is not well expressed in either scientific research or policy development nor is it clearly defined in the United Nation's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This study conducted a review and bibliometric analysis based on 1108 published articles from 1990 to 2022 in the field of small hydropower research. This research provides an overview of the present state of worldwide research on small hydropower, visualizing the results with scientific mapping, analyzing the changing trends in the research topics in the area of small hydropower research, using 2016, the year of the launch of the sustainable development goals, as a temporal cutoff point, and linking small hydropower to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The findings of this research can assist researchers who would like to engage in this area of research to rapidly gain an understanding of the research frontiers and the overall situation, guiding future routes to the sustainable development of small hydropower.