California Will Stick Solar Panels Over Canals to Fight Two Disasters at Once

A water and electric utility in central California will install a first-of-its-kind network of solar panels on water canals. Turlock Irrigation District (TID) has secured a $20 million grant from the state to pursue the first-in-the-nation project, which could serve a beneficial double whammy: create renewable energy and save some water in the process. Project Nexus is based off an analysis published last year in Nature Sustainability, which put some real numbers behind the idea that solar panels over canals could do some good. A lot of water in California wends its way through the state’s 4,000 miles (6,437 kilometers) of open delivery canals that comprise the aqueduct system, transporting water supply from the Sierra Nevada mountains and northern parts of the state to reservoirs, lakes, hydropower plants, and farms. The water supply in the state is already under serious dual threats from overuse and climate change, so every drop counts. And these exposed canals have a serious flaw: They allow some of that precious water to evaporate. - Gizmodo (from Nature)