Canal

Canal solar power generation

An irrigation district in California's Central Valley region has installed arrays of solar panels atop a series of canals to demonstrate how such systems can generate electrical power and, through shading, reduce the loss of water from evaporation. It's a simple idea that people have talked about for decades, but only now is it finally being tested in real life, thanks to Brandi McKuin at UC Merced, whose study. . The $ 20 million state-funded pilot has turned stretches of the Turlock Irrigation District's canals into hubs of clean electricity generation in a remote area where cotton, tomatoes, almonds, and hundreds of other crops are grown. Project Nexus is only the second canal-based solar array to operate. . California's first solar-covered water canal is now generating power. The advantages it offers could fast track the future of solar power. There are actually two solar canopies operating now, and they both are a part of a pilot study called “Project Nexus.

[PDF Version]