Small hydro in eastern Uganda: what the grid does with ten megawatts
The benefit shows up in outage minutes at the end of the feeder, not in national capacity.
Small hydro plants do not change a national generation balance. What they change is the quality of supply at the end of a long feeder, where voltage sags and outages are a daily fact.
The economics are unlike a large station. Civil works dominate the cost, the resource varies with the season, and the plant is only as useful as the distribution network it feeds into.
Connection terms are the recurring dispute: who pays for the line to the nearest substation, and what happens to the tariff when the river is low.
Measured honestly, the benefit shows up in outage minutes for nearby customers rather than in national capacity figures.