Citation: Guzovi´ c, Z.; Barbari´ c, M.; Baˇ celi´ c Medi´ c, Z.; Degiuli, N. New Software for the Techno–Economic Analysis of Small Hydro Power Plants. Water 2023, 15, 1651. https:// doi.org/10.3390/w15091651 Academic Editors: Cara Beal and Oz Sahin Received: 3 March 2023 Revised: 7 April 2023 Accepted: 12 April 2023 Published: 23 April 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). water Article New Software for the Techno–Economic Analysis of Small Hydro Power Plants Zvonimir Guzovi´ c *, Marina Barbari´ c, Zlatko Baˇ celi´ c Medi´ c and Nastia Degiuli Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Ivana Luˇ ci´ ca 5, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia * Correspondence: zvonimir.guzovic@fsb.hr Abstract: Project SMART (Strategies to Promote Small-Scale Hydro Electricity Production in Europe) from the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) program, in which 7 institutions from 5 European states participate, pointed to the important barriers for the expansion of small hydro power plants (SHP) in Europe. One of the main barriers is the lack of suitable methodology and software able to create a clear view of the SHP potential in the given territory, as well as a complete techno-economic analysis for certain locations. Worldwide, there are a certain number of software for this purpose, and will be presented in this paper. However, in practical application for concrete cases, they show certain disadvantages. For example, one software is not able to take into account all the specifics of watercourses and plants; another does not have the option of selecting all types of turbines; in others, the calculation models are based on a limited number of equations that do not describe all possible cases; in some, economic analysis is oversimplified, etc. The aim of this paper is to develop software that is more comprehensive than any existing software. A new software for the techno-economic analysis of SHP is developed using Python and will be presented in this paper. The software is very useful for experts in the field of SHP, but also much wider, for decision-makers, potential investors, and stakeholders, especially in developing countries. It will improve water resources management, disseminate opportunities to investors, and increase the interest of stakeholders to invest in SHP, resulting in their wider use. The software is tested on location for SHP in the Republic of Croatia by comparison with the results obtained by the usual classical calculation. The agreement of the results is satisfactory. Keywords: renewable energy; small hydro power plants (SHP); SMART project; techno–economic analysis; new software (tool) 1. Introduction Today, the world is entering a new era [1,2]: • Climate change represents the most pressing existential threat to humanity; • An era of low-carbon energy, characterized by dramatic changes in the energy supply– demand relationship; • About 770 million people still do not have access to clean, affordable, and reliable electricity, and almost one in three people do not have access to safely managed drinking water; • The Paris Agreement also includes the transition from fossil to renewable energy sources; • As a renewable energy, hydropower plays an essential role in decarbonization of the energy system (especially small hydro power plants (SHP)) and play an important role for the global energy supply; • Driven by the increasing demand for energy and global climate change, many coun- tries have given priority to hydropower development in the expansion of their energy sectors. Water 2023, 15, 1651. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15091651 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/water