China planned to electrify a further 10,000 villages between 2005 and 2010 under their China Village Electrification Program, including further investments in small hydro and photovoltaics. By 2010, China had 45,000 small hydro installations, especially in rural areas, producing 160 Twh annually. Over 50% of the world's potential small hydro power was found in Asia; however, the report noted, "It is possible in the future that more small hydropower potential might be identified both on the African and American continents". In the mountains and rain forests of British Columbia, Canada there are a great many sites suitable for hydro development. However environmental concerns towards large reservoirs after the 1980s halted new dam construction. The solution to coping with increased demand was to offer contracts to independent power producers, who have built 100 run of the river projects under 50 MW. Power production without reservoirs varies dramatically, but older conventional dams retain or release water to average out production though the year. In 2014 these independent producers generated 18,000 GWh from 4,500 MW of capacity. Generation Hydroelectric power is the generation of electric power from the movement of water. A hydroelectric facility requires a dependable flow of water and a reasonable height for the water to fall, called the head. In a typical installation, water is fed from a reservoir through a pipe into a turbine. The water flowing through the turbine causes an electrical generator to rotate, converting the motion into electrical energy. Small hydro may be developed by constructing new facilities or through re-development of existing dams whose primary purpose is flood control, or irrigation. Old hydro sites may be re-developed, sometimes salvaging substantial investment in the installation such as penstock pipe and turbines, or just re-using the water rights associated with an abandoned site. Either of these cost saving advantages can make the return on investment for a small hydro site well worth the use of existing sites. Project design Many companies offer standardized turbine generator packages in the approximate size range of 200 kW to 10 MW. These "water to wire" packages simplify the planning and development of the site since one vendor looks after most of the equipment supply. Because non-recurring engineering costs are minimized and development cost is spread over multiple units, the cost of such package systems is reduced. While synchronous generators capable of isolated plant operation are often used, small hydro plants connected