Recently, it was shown that it is possible to increase the power of a wind turbine by a factor of 5 by operating it in a partially static mode. In this paper, we explore whether also Kaplan turbines can be made partially static in order to increase their power or in order to operate them under a smaller head. As a result, one would hope to obtain a turbine, which is able to operate economically also under a small head. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.