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https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/california-first-canal-array-project-nexus>
"A novel solar power project just went online in California’s Central Valley,
with panels that span across canals in the vast agricultural region.
The 1.6-megawatt installation, called Project Nexus, was fully completed late
last month. 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 in the
United States — and one of just a handful in the world. America’s first
solar-canal project started producing power in October 2024 for the Pima and
Maricopa tribes, known together as the Gila River Indian Community, on their
reservation near Phoenix, Arizona. Two more canal-top arrays are already in the
works there.
In California, the solar-canal system was built in two phases, with a
20-foot-wide stretch completed in March and a roughly 110-foot-wide portion
finished at the end of August. Researchers will study the project’s performance
over time, while a new initiative led by California universities and the
company Solar Aquagrid will push to fast-track the deployment of solar canals
across the state.
Proponents of this emerging approach say it can provide overlapping benefits.
Early research suggests that, along with producing power in land-constrained
areas, putting solar arrays above water can help keep panels cool, in turn
improving their efficiency and electricity output. Shade from the panels can
also prevent water loss through evaporation in drought-prone regions and can
limit algae growth in waterways.
Plus, solar canals could offer a faster path to clean energy development than
utility-scale solar farms, especially in rural parts of the U.S. where big
renewables projects increasingly face community opposition. Placing solar
panels atop existing infrastructure doesn’t require altering the landscape, and
the relatively small installations can be plugged into nearby distribution
lines, avoiding the cumbersome process of connecting to the higher-voltage
wires required for bigger undertakings."
Via Joseph Teller.
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*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
