A pilot project that covers canals with solar panels could save California water and help the state decarbonize. Project Nexus is set to launch in mid-October, covering a 500-foot portion of canal in Hickman, CA, and a mile in Ceres, CA.
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Brandi McKuin, a project scientist at the University of California, Merced whose 2021 research inspired the project, listed the benefits: ‘First of all, covering canals with solar panels would reduce evaporation so we could save water. Secondly, it would avoid land use. Thirdly, it could, you know, by shading the canals with solar panels, it would reduce aquatic weed growth. And lastly, there’s a cooler microclimate. So water heats up more slowly than land, and this could enhance the efficiency of PV (Photovoltaic) electricity production.’
McKuin’s calculations found that if all 4,000 miles of CA’s canals were covered with solar panels, the state could save up to 63 billion gallons of water from evaporation. The panels could create as much as a sixth of the energy capacity that the state already has installed.
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