No-Brainer: Solar Panels on Water Canals
- Editor OGN Daily
- Oct 27, 2023
- 2 min read
Solar AquaGrid is preparing to break ground on the first solar-covered canal project in the United States. It looks like a blindingly obvious solution that produces a win win scenario.
The idea is simple: install solar panels over canals in sunny, water-scarce regions where they reduce evaporation and make electricity. And, of course, don't take up any precious land that could be used for agriculture. Somewhere like California!
A study by the University of California estimates that 63 billion gallons of water could be saved by covering California's 6,437 kilometres of canals with solar panels - because the panels would stop the much needed water from evaporating. The study also projects that the solar panels could also generate 13 gigawatts of power. That's enough to power the entire city of Los Angeles from January until early October.
But those are estimates - they, nor other potential benefits have been tested scientifically. That's about to change with Project Nexus in California's Central Valley. About 2 miles of canals between 20 and 110 feet wide will be covered with solar panels between five and 15 feet off the ground, and will be closely monitored to see whether the University's estimates are replicated in real life.
In the meantime, more than 100 climate advocacy groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Greenpeace, have now sent a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Bureau Commissioner Camille Touton urging them “to accelerate the widespread deployment of solar photovoltaic energy systems" above the Bureau’s canals and aqueducts.
Covering all 8,000 miles of Bureau-owned canals and aqueducts could “generate over 25 gigawatts of renewable energy - enough to power nearly 20 million homes - and reduce water evaporation by tens of billions of gallons.”