Abstract
This paper is dedicated to the description of all our research done so far in the field of simulation of small hydropower plants as well as in creating a functional laboratory model based on the proposed simulation models. Comparing to the common structures, we propose some different approaches in modelling parts of the small hydropower plants, e.g. fuzzy model of the hydraulic turbine efficiency. Moreover, this simulation model is created directly for the small hydropower plants, thus it simplifies parts, that are commonly used in other scientific papers and simulate the phenomenon connected to the big scale hydropower plants structure and physical description. As a necessary step in the process of creation of universal laboratory model of a small hydropower plant that should be used for design and tuning purposes of new approaches of controlling such systems, we discuss the research and development phase that led to the final construction of the depicted laboratory model.