canals

The Gila River Indian Community says it has broken ground on a solar array that will cover an irrigation canal south of Phoenix, Arizona.

Project Nexus is a pilot project that aims to build solar panel canopies over a portion of Turlock Irrigation District’s existing canals to operate and research a how water-plus-energy can meet California’s needs for climate resiliency.

U.S. researchers have assessed the technical and economic feasibility of solar canals in California and have found that their LCOE is already close to that of ground-mounted solar plants. Three different project configurations were analyzed for eight different sites across the California network of canals.

PV installations on canals are common in India, as they provide electricity without occupying land, while reducing evaporation. However, they are still more expensive than ground-mounted PV projects.