McKuin (she specializes in food-energy-water sustainability):
“Solar canals are an example of an energy-water nexus that offer multiple sustainability benefits. Using water canals for solar infrastructure conserves water while producing renewable electricity and avoids converting large tracts of land to solar development … “The cooler microclimate next to the canal mitigates panel heating, which enhances PV efficiency, and shade from the panels mitigates aquatic weed growth which is a major maintenance [and pollution] issue.”
Unlike “floatovoltaics”, the panels don’t touch the water — they’re a shaped canopy above it that receive sunlight, shade the water (which circulates coolth), allows wildlife access, and drips condensation back in. According to the research, the solaring of California’s 4,000 miles of wide-span and narrow-span canals would offer an evaporative savings of 82%, or
63 billion gallons of water annually (enough to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland or meet the residential water needs of more than 2 million people
while generating 13 gigawatts of solar power annually, equal to
about one sixth of the state’s current installed capacity
<big>Not everyone can afford to install their own in this state of 40million people with an extensive poverty problem</big> h/t Jasmine Segel
for a “20% to 50% higher return on investment compared to on-ground solar panelling. Context:, California regulators are pushing to install 20 gigawatts of additional renewable capacity across the state by 2030. Even more would be even better! Especially with more bang for the tax and personal buck.
