Abstract: The design, operation and management level of Chinese hydropower is at the forefront of the world, but the system architecture and institutional mechanism of hydropower standard still face many shortcomings. This paper systematically investigates the hydropower standard architecture of China and the United States, and takes hydropower eco-environmental protection work in China and the United States as examples to understand the formulation and use of hydropower standards in practice. On this basis, the hydropower standards differences between China and the United States are analyzed. The results show that there are differences between China and the United States in the system architecture, formulation ideas, management mode, standard content and scope of application of hydropower standards. Combining the advantages of the Chinese and American hydropower standards, the suggestions for optimization and improvement are put forward.