The first solar-over-canal project in California, built over Turlock Irrigation District canals, has begun producing electricity, with plans to expand the technology to other areas of the state. 

Project Nexus, a pilot program that is funded by the state of California and is a public-private-academic partnership between TID, Solar AquaGrid, UC Merced and the California Department of Water Resources, aims to accelerate the deployment of solar panels over California’s extensive canal network.

According to a UC Merced study that was published in “Nature Sustainability,” covering large sections of the state’s 4,000 miles of canals with solar panels could help conserve water, reduce air pollution, save land, and generate clean energy using existing land and infrastructure.

Project Nexus is utilizing TID canals to test the theory. 

TID General Manager Brad Koehn said the panels on the initial phase of Project Nexus have started to generate electricity.

“It’s very exciting to see Project Nexus come online,” said Koehn. “The completion of the narrow-span system in Ceres is the crucial step to being able to fully evaluate the benefits of this technology and capitalize on the opportunity to generate clean energy directly atop of the same canal system that is already providing irrigation water to our customers.

“Construction at the wide-span site in underway and we are looking forward to that site being completed later this year.”

The California Solar Canal Initiative research project is looking to accelerate the use of solar power across the state by equipping government agencies, utilities, community members and other interested parties with data on optimal locations and identifying willing host communities.

Led by the University of Southern California’s Dornsife Public Exchange, and independent advisor Solar AquaGrid, CSCI researchers will collaborate with state agencies to extend the solar network.

“California is leading the way in exploring innovative solutions to tackle climate change and strengthen our water and energy resilience,” said California Natural Resource Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot. “We are excited to see top research institutions come together to help deploy solar panels over water canals — a big idea with great potential..”

CSCI researchers plan to evaluate the potential of solar canals to address the needs of a changing energy market. 

USC Dornsife Public Exchange has assembled a research team that includes faculty from USC, UC Merced, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC Law San Francisco, San Jose State University, and the University of Kansas. 

The CSCI research is guided by an advisory council of experts from government, academia and the private sector to ensure its outcomes are actionable. The advisory council, chaired by Solar AquaGrid, includes members from CNRA, the California Department of Water Resources, California Forward, New Energy Nexus, Environmental Policy Centerm and Stanford Water in the West. On Monday, the California Solar Canal Summit was held in Sacramento with research faculty, advisors, state agencies and community partners in attendance.

While not all canals are suitable for solar installations, the UC Merced study estimated that covering all 4,000 miles of California’s exposed canals with solar panels could generate enough electricity to power about 2 million homes each year, conserve enough water to supply up to 2 million homes annually, and reduce land use by placing solar arrays on developed land.

The study indicated that covering significant portions of canals could provide benefits beyond power and water, including conserving up to 50,000 acres of land and habitat by placing solar arrays over existing infrastructure; lowering maintenance costs by shading the canals, which reduces weed and algae growth in the canals; enhancing the efficiency of the solar panels due to the cooling effect of the water below;  and creating local jobs to install and maintain the systems.

Although California experienced multiple episodes of intense rainfall and flooding emergencies in the past two years, scientists predict the state will continue to swing between intense rainfall and prolonged droughts, emphasizing the need to conserve water and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while meeting the state’s increasing energy needs.