California's Project Nexus, a 1.6-megawatt solar installation spanning canals in the Central Valley, has officially gone online, marking the state's first solar-covered canal system. The $20 million pilot, funded by the state, turns stretches of the Turlock Irrigation District's canals into hubs for clean electricity in a region known for crops like cotton, tomatoes, and almonds.

Project Nexus is the second canal-based solar array in the United States, following a 2024 installation on the Gila River Indian Community reservation in Arizona. In California, the system was built in two phases: a 20-foot-wide section completed in March, and a roughly 110-foot-wide portion finished in August. Researchers will monitor the project's performance, while a new initiative led by California universities and Solar Aquagrid aims to accelerate solar canal deployment across the state.

Solar canals provide multiple benefits beyond power generation. Panels remain cooler over water, increasing efficiency, while shading reduces water evaporation and algae growth. Unlike large-scale solar farms, canal-top arrays use existing infrastructure, require minimal land disturbance, and can connect directly to nearby distribution lines.

The primary goal of these early arrays is to power canal equipment such as pumps and gates, but future projects could supply broader clean energy to the grid. Estimates suggest that covering 8,000 miles of federally owned canals with solar panels could generate over 25 gigawatts of electricity--enough for nearly 20 million homes--and conserve tens of billions of gallons of water.

David DeJong, director of the Pima-Maricopa Irrigation Project, emphasized the approach's efficiency: "Why disturb land that has sacred value when we could just put the solar panels over a canal and generate more efficient power?"

Source: canarymedia.com