The recent focus on growing the amount of energy provided by renewable sources such as wind and solar power have placed increased demands on existing hydropower infrastructure to be able to maintain consistent energy availability. The majority of existing hydropower infrastructure, however, was not designed to compensate for the variability and uncertainty of other renewable energy sources. In the past 20 years, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have become an enabling sensing technology in several industries, including the automotive, medical, and consumer electronics markets. This work provides a broad overview of available MEMS sensing technologies and capabilities which could prove beneficial to the hydropower industry, either through adaptation or direct implementation. Multiple different sensor technologies were identified as potentially useful to the hydropower industry, including MEMS strain gauges, accelerometers, microphones, and pressure and temperature sensors.
