In this study a methodology for assessing the impact of climate change on hydropower is described and its application to small case studies is reported. Firstly, the future of hydroelectric power in a changing energy market is discussed; then the main drivers of hydropower systems are analyzed, i.e. water inflows and the energy market prices. The hydrologic component was used to assess impacts of Climatic Change on hydropower taking energy prices constant during all the simulations. In order to assess the importance of changes in the energy market, a sensitivity analysis was done on electricity market prices. Given inflow and energy prices, optimal hydropower operation simulations were performed for two small case studies localized in Po River catchment. Results of this analysis are compared, showing quite different patterns of evolution for hydroelectric production in 2001-2050 period. Comparison between reservoir management in two case studies show similar behaviour in both areas, the greater variability in summer inflows will affect the filling of hydropower reservoirs and, in some year, it will not be possible to use all the storage capacity. In general, a possible increase in water conflicts is expected among different water uses.