Advances in fully automated hydropower installations and reductions in manufacturing costs have made small-scale hydropower increasingly attractive. To address this situation, the Small-scale Hydropower Task Force has established an international database of small-hydro data to provide supporting information to facilitate the development of new projects and assess the current status of the industry. The emphasis of the database is on projects of more than 50 kW and less than 10MW installed capacity (though, the Atlas displays sites based on individual country definitions of small hydro).

The International Small-hydro Atlas was developed as part of the International Energy's Implementing Agreement for Hydropower technologies and Programmes. The Small-Scale Hydro Task Force was responsible for the creation and content of the Atlas.