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I don't think that's necessarily true. Couldn't you make up for it on volume? I can picture scenarios where you'd have a lot of water falling a small distance and it would be more convenient to install something like this than to use a site with a lesser amount of water falling a larger distance.

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Absolutely. The potential power is _water mass/sec * head height * g_ - more water volume is just as valuable as more head height.

Actually, looking at that calculation, I wonder how much the fact that this turbine doesn't introduce cavitation (bubbles) affects the efficiency. The water would be more dense, which would theoretically improve output... no idea if enough to worry about, though.

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