This article presents a literature review of publications and research related to the design and implementation of hardware and software systems for teleoperation, remote control, monitoring and safety of energy harvesting processes in a small hydropower plant (SHP). First, the techniques, tools and processes developed by both industrial firms and researchers are generally outlined. Next, all the information is organized in comparative tables that describe each development and show its advantages and disadvantages. The results show that a tool with a service-oriented architecture is most appropriate for SHP teleoperation because it has the required low coupling, flexibility, scalability and fault tolerance required by this type of application. Additionally, this study did not identify a previous, similar literature review on this topic.