Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Here's a Drought-Fighting Idea: Cover Canals With Solar Panels
Liz-Juarez
By Liz Juarez
Published 3 years ago on
September 2, 2021

Share

As California battles drought and a water crisis, scientists at the University of California, Merced, propose building solar projects atop the state’s 3,946 miles of canals.

However, leaders from the Valley’s farming and solar industries say the idea will only work if the projects make “financial sense.”

How Can Canal Solar Projects Help Fight Drought?

As the state becomes increasingly hotter and its soils drier, there must be enough water storage to last the dry seasons to supply communities with drinking water and farms with irrigation.

The UC Merced scientists conducted case studies on the benefits of placing solar panels over bodies of water such as natural lakes, reservoirs, wastewater treatment basins, and canals.

Through their studies, they found that adding solar panels to California’s canals could initially help save 63 billion gallons of water from evaporating each year.

Additionally, the water would help cool the solar panels, which would produce more energy, and combat aquatic weed growth  — a  problem plaguing canal maintenance.

Another potential benefit: Replacing aging diesel pumps and generators with solar arrays. This would help clean up the Valley’s notoriously unhealthy air.

Proof-of-Concept for Demonstration Project

Professor Roger Bales of UC Merced told Wired Magazine that the paper, “is not a detailed engineering design or conceptual design — it’s a feasibility study, a proof of concept for taking it to the next phase of investing in a demonstration project.”

However, he thinks the amount of electricity canal-top solar could produce would benefit the state. Former State Water Board Chair Felicia Marcus agrees with Bales.

“A significant amount of our state’s electricity bill comes from moving, treating, and heating water, so water efficiency is also energy efficiency,”  Marcus said. “We need to find every way we can to use water more efficiently, including stemming evaporative loss, as we also scale up clean energy to meet the needs of the challenging century ahead under climate change.”

Valley Leaders Says Solar Projects Must Pencil Out

“Ultimately, what it’s going to come down to, is it cost-effective with the additional structures that are needed over the top of these canal systems?” said Ryan Jacobsen, president-CEO of the Fresno County Farm Bureau.

Jacobsen says most of the large solar farm projects are on lands that have been temporarily or permanently fallowed due to water shortages.

He also adds that solar farms add a stream of income to farmers who this year struggled to produce more crops.

“Solar allows them to either rent that land to the company or be a partner in the project and utilize that longer-term steady stream of income to help diversify their portfolio,” said Jacobsen.

Mike Pickett, owner of Pickett Solar, says he doesn’t see the project taking off in the Central Valley because it doesn’t make “economic sense.”

“For example, utility-scale projects where there’s someone who’s investing in a huge solar array like you’d see off of (Highway 41) going out to Pismo — that would be the competition to someone trying to put a solar array over the top of a canal,” said Pickett. “And, there’s just no way that a project over a canal is going to be able to compete with the economics of doing it the way you see it now.”

India’s Success with Canal Solar Projects

However, in India, these types of projects have been a saving grace for small villages. One example is Gujarat, India, which didn’t have electricity until canal-top solar was installed.

According to ResearchGate, the government of Gujarat agreed to the construction of a solar plant on a canal top and created the first pilot demonstration project near Sanand, Gujarat, in 2012.

Since then, several more projects have followed, including a 100MW canal-top solar power project atop the branch canals off the Narmada River.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Supermom Carmi Is Ready to Be Embraced by Her Forever Family

DON'T MISS

House Speaker Mike Johnson Headed to Fresno on April 4

DON'T MISS

Fresno Mayor Dyer Is the Man in Japan

DON'T MISS

Trump Media Group CEO Nunes Headlines Fresno GOP Event

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Nab Suspect in March 14 Slaying on Bulldog Lane

DON'T MISS

Beautify Fresno’s Great American Cleanup Set for April 20

DON'T MISS

Mad Duck Sets Mid-April Opening for Big Brewpub at Copper River

DON'T MISS

While Valley Children’s Executives Earn Millions, Community Benefits Lag

DON'T MISS

Despite Above Average Snowpack, Fed Agency Promises Valley Farmers Only 35% of Water

DON'T MISS

Wet Weekends + Big Snowpack = More Water for Farmers?

No data was found

California Law Enforcement Agencies Obstruct Transparency Efforts in Use-of-Force Cases

2 hours ago

Fresno County Tackles Animal Overpopulation with New Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Program

3 hours ago

Fallen Crypto Mogul Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison

3 hours ago

When Newsom Gives His State of the State, He Should Be Candid About California’s Economy

3 hours ago

No Police Charges for Taylor Swift’s Dad Over Paparazzi Incident in Sydney

3 hours ago

Biden Administration to Lend $1.5B to Restart Michigan Nuclear Power Plant, a First in the US

4 hours ago

Tonight’s Biden Fundraiser With Obama and Clinton Already Nets a Record $25 Million

5 hours ago

Supermom Carmi Is Ready to Be Embraced by Her Forever Family

Animals /

8 hours ago

Ukrainian Navy Says a Third of Russian Warships in the Black Sea Have Been Destroyed or Disabled

16 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: How Going to Work for Trump Turned Devin Nunes Into a Millionaire

20 hours ago

Ex-Correctional Officer at Women’s Prison in California Sentenced for Sexually Abusing Inmates

OAKLAND — A former correctional officer at a federal California women’s prison known for numerous misconduct allegations was sentenced...

2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Ex-Correctional Officer at Women’s Prison in California Sentenced for Sexually Abusing Inmates

2 hours ago

Caitlin Clark and Iowa Draw Nearly 5 Million Viewers for Second-Round NCAA Win

2 hours ago

Canadian School Boards Sue Snapchat, TikTok and Meta for Disrupting Students’ Education

2 hours ago

California Law Enforcement Agencies Obstruct Transparency Efforts in Use-of-Force Cases

3 hours ago

Fresno County Tackles Animal Overpopulation with New Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Program

3 hours ago

Fallen Crypto Mogul Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison

3 hours ago

When Newsom Gives His State of the State, He Should Be Candid About California’s Economy

Photo of Taylor Swift
3 hours ago

No Police Charges for Taylor Swift’s Dad Over Paparazzi Incident in Sydney

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend