Apply for Certification

Low Impact Certification means that a hydropower facility meets or exceeds the LIHI Certification Criteria which address the following key areas: flow regimes, water quality, upstream fish passage, downstream fish passage, shorelines and watershed, threatened and endangered species, cultural and historic resources, and recreational, public, and traditional cultural access.

Owners of eligible hydroelectric facilities are encouraged to apply for LIHI Certification. The LIHI Certification Program policies and rules, including detailed instructions on how to apply are provided in the Low Impact Certification Program 2nd Edition Handbook. Click HERE to access the 2nd Edition LIHI Certification Handbook (Revision 2.06, March 1, 2025) that is currently in effect. A highlighted version of the Handbook showing changes from Revision 2.05 can be found HERE.

Please also refer to the Fee Structure webpage for current application and annual fees, which may supersede Appendix C of the published LIHI Handbook.

Facilities Eligible for LIHI Certification

In general, conventional hydropower facilities located within the United States are eligible to apply for LIHI certification, as long as they do not involve construction of new dams or diversions after August 1998. Facilities that do not involve a dam or diversion are not subject to the August 1998 construction date limitation.

Existing and New Facilities

“Existing” hydropower facilities, meaning those that have powerhouses located at existing dams or diversions and that were generating electricity as of August 1998, are eligible to apply for LIHI certification. “New” hydropower facilities, meaning those that added a new powerhouse at a previously non-powered dam or one that increased power generation capacity after August 1998, are also eligible for LIHI certification, as long as the dam or diversion structure associated with the facility was in existence in August 1998. New hydropower plants that are eligible at existing dams include those that have added generating equipment, efficiency upgrades to existing equipment, or other means of generation, provided the added or increased capacity:

was created by modifications or additions to the existing facility (that is, modifications or additions to the existing dam, and/or if applicable, existing powerhouse) and did not require or include any new dam or other diversion structure;
did not result in a change in water flow through the facility that worsened conditions for for resources assessed by LIHI criteria (for example, operations did not change from run-of-river* to peaking); and
did not occur at an existing dam that had been formally recommended for removal or decommissioning by jurisdictional resource agencies and/or federal or state-recognized Tribal Nations may be ineligible for new or continued LIHI certification. “Resource agency and tribal government recommendations” must comply with the requirements that are defined in Appendix A of the LIHI Handbook for that term. If such a recommendation has been made, the LIHI Governing Board’s Technical Committee will review the recommendation and make an eligibility determination.

Hydropower facilities at dams or diversions that have been reconstructed at the site of previously existing dams may be considered for certification on a case-by-case basis. *For LIHI purpose, a facility is operated in a run-of-river mode if the outflow of the facility is within reasonable measurement accuracy (+/- 10 percent) of the inflow to the facility, measured on an hourly basis.

Pre-Operational Facilities

“New” hydropower facilities that are not generating electricity at the time of their certification application (i.e., pre-operational facilities) may be eligible for consideration, provided that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license or exemption, or similar authorization addressing environmental impacts, has been issued and that there are no pending appeals or litigation associated with that authorization. In such cases, the applicant must acknowledge that LIHI may suspend or revoke the certification should the impacts of the facility, once operational, cause non-compliance with the certification criteria. For pre-operational certification, the LIHI Certification term will begin when the new facility begins generation; however annual compliance statements and related condition fees, if applicable, will be required during all years prior to commencement of operations as well as thereafter. Applicants may be charged a fee premium for pre-operational Certification (see Appendix C of the LIHI Handbook).

Facilities Not Eligible for LIHI Certification

The following types of hydropower facilities are not currently eligible for LIHI certification:

Facilities associated with dams that have been formally recommended for removal or decommissioning by jurisdictional resource agencies and/or federal or state-recognized Tribal Nations may be ineligible for new or continued LIHI certification. “Resource agency and tribal government recommendations” must comply with the requirements that are defined in Appendix A of the LIHI Handbook for that term. If such a recommendation has been made, the LIHI Governing Board’s Technical Committee will review the recommendation and make an eligibility determination;
Hydropower facilities that are located at a dam or diversion that was constructed after August 1998 or that would require construction of a new dam or diversion that does not currently exist;
Pumped-storage hydropower facilities;
Hydropower facilities located outside of the United States; and
Facilities located in marine environments or using hydrokinetic hydropower technologies.

There are two steps to the LIHI Application Process:

Step One consists of the initial Intake Review, when the applicant submits a confidential application and receives a preliminary confidential review along with an estimate of the full certification application fee payable with Step Two of the application process. LIHI’s target time frame to complete the Intake Review is 30 days from receipt of the draft application and intake fee. The Intake Review results in a transmittal to the applicant explaining what additional information is required to fully evaluate the application and providing suggestions on how to improve the application for likely success in Step Two. Intake Reviews are confidential because they provide early vetting of facilities for compatibility with the LIHI Criteria, enabling owners to elect not to proceed if they choose.

Step Two is the submission, if needed, of a final LIHI application or an application supplement. The date that LIHI receives a complete application package and fee will become the Certificate Effective date if a Certificate is issued. LIHI’s target time frame to complete Step Two, Full Review and issuance of a Preliminary Certification Decision is 180 days from the receipt of a complete application which must include all components of the application materials specified in Appendix B of the Handbook as well as payment of the full application fee quoted in the Intake Review. Upon receipt of the complete application, LIHI program rules require a public notice and comment period of 60 days. Once the Preliminary Decision is announced after close of the comment period there is a 30-day appeal window available to the applicant and to anyone who commented during the original 60-day public comment period.

Recertification: Certification terms are for a fixed number of years, however renewal of Certification (recertification) is available to all Certified facilities in good standing. Approximately six to nine months prior to the expiration of the current term, LIHI will remind the facility owner of the upcoming expiration and provide instructions on how to apply for recertification (Handbook Section 6). Similar to the initial application, recertification also consists of two steps – the first of which is the submittal of new application materials under the current criteria and Handbook that are in effect at the time of application.

Stage I of recertification evaluates the completeness of the application and asks three simple questions:

Is there any missing information in the application for recertification?
Have there been any material changes at the facility during the term of the previous Certification (see Handbook Section 6)?
Have there been any material changes in the LIHI criteria or certification process since the facility was originally certified?

If the answer to all questions is no, then recertification can be processed promptly. If the answer to any question is yes, then a Stage II Review of each criteria is performed in the same manner as an original LIHI application.

Recertification is also subject to the 60-day public notice and comment period, and a 30-day appeal window after a preliminary decision.

Program Forms and Documents

Please contact LIHI with application questions. Staff contact information can be found at the bottom of this page

The application materials are available for download below, refer to Appendix B of the Handbook for detailed guidance:

Additional Program Documents and Forms:

Applications for Low Impact Certification are evaluated using a consistent, hierarchical set of eight criteria, goals, and standards. All criteria and their respective goals must be satisfied, but the alternative standards are designed to be flexible enough to be applicable to the wide range of conditions that can occur at different hydropower facilities in different river systems.

The criteria are defined for the primary areas of social and environmental impact associated with hydropower facilities. Goal statements are provided for each criterion (Handbook Section 3) and define the purpose or objective that must be satisfied. There are eight criteria, all of which must be met for a facility to become Low Impact Certified. For each criterion and supporting goal statement, a set of alternative standards provide a menu of alternatives by which each criterion goal can be met. Each set of standards are prefaced by an introduction that includes a short, generalized statement of how they are to be applied (Handbook Section 3). The introduction also includes requirements that apply to the standards that are critical to satisfying the goal for that criterion. The introduction is followed by two to four alternative methods of satisfying the criteria. The order of the alternative standards is consistent for all criteria.

The first standard for each criterion is a “Not Applicable or De Minimis Effect (NA/DME)” standard that recognizes that some types of facilities either do not have impacts on the respective goal or impacts to that goal would be so minimal that they would be difficult to measure. This standard is a streamlined way to satisfy a particular criterion where circumstances justify it. Facilities that satisfy the first standard for all eight criteria will be rewarded in the form of a longer term (15-year) LIHI Certificate and reduced certification review and annual fees (see Handbook Section 4.4). An example of a project type that might qualify for NA/DME standards would be a conduit facility that does not discharge back into a natural waterway.
For most criteria, the second standard requires meeting the latest and most stringent science-based recommendation of the relevant state or federal resource agencies whose mandates are to protect the resources relevant to the criterion, and science-based or indigenous knowledge based recommendations of federal or state-recognized Tribal Nations. It is the responsibility of the applicant to explain in their application how the requirement of a science-based or indigenous knowledge based recommendation is satisfied through reference to the methods, procedures, studies, or other information used to develop those recommendations.
To accommodate situations where resource agency and/or tribal government recommendations do not exist and the NA/DME standard cannot be applied, a higher numbered standard can be used to meet the goals through demonstrated best practices and technologies.

The numbering and order of alternative standards is important. With the exception of the PLUS standards, an applicant should attempt to satisfy a lower numbered standard first. Applying a higher numbered standard implies that the lower numbered standard is not appropriate or not possible to meet. Applicants should consult with LIHI staff early in the application process to determine which standards are most appropriate for specific facilities (see Handbook Section 4.1 and 4.2). In addition to the alternative standards needed to satisfy a criterion’s goal, each criterion also includes a PLUS standard, which offers a reward of a longer term of the LIHI Certificate for facilities that demonstrate substantial extra efforts in environmental and social mitigation, enhancement, or restoration. Some examples include deploying advanced technologies, implementing science-based adaptive management programs or basin-scale redevelopment strategies, or supporting a watershed enhancement fund, enhanced educational opportunities, or enhanced recreational amenities. An applicant will earn an extra three years of term for the first PLUS standard that is applied, and another two years for additional PLUS standards applied, up to a maximum term of 15 years (maximum of 2 PLUS standards). The application for PLUS standards should be discussed with LIHI staff during the intake review and will need to be approved during the certification review and subsequent decision process.