Solar Power Canopy Over Water Canal Now Generating Electricity – CleanTechnica

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A solar power canopy situated over an irrigation canal near Turlock, California, is generating enough electricity to power several thousand homes. There are actually two solar canopies operating now, and they both are a part of a pilot study called “Project Nexus.”

“We’re very excited. So the narrow span and also the wide span locations, there’s two sites. They’re both commissioned, and they’re both producing power and power are going into the electric grid, and our customers are receiving the benefits of these projects,” said Josh Weimer, who works at the Turlock Irrigation District.

Locating solar PV canopies over water canals in California has some benefits; chiefly it uses the area where the canals are, which means no additional land is required for installing hundreds or thousands of solar panels. Land in California can be very expensive, so utilizing the space above canals is more cost effective.

Placing canopies over water canals provides shade, which helps reduce water evaporation. It might not seem that canal water evaporation would be such a big issue, but it is because California has thousands of miles of such canals. “According to a team of scientists from UC Merced, California’s 4,000 miles of irrigation canals lose 63 billion gallons of water each year to evaporation — a problem that could be solved by shading them with solar panels.”

Co-locating the solar panels over water keeps them cooler, which helps them produce electricity because solar panels produce less if they get too hot. Coincidentally, high-voltage power lines are sometimes located near such canals, so if solar canopies are installed there they have access to grid connections.

Turlock is located in the Central Valley and has a population of about 72,000. Hopefully, Project Nexus is a success and more water canal solar power canopies can be installed to generate clean electricity and provide associated benefits.