Solar canal concept could be a win for clean energy and water conservation

[applegrove]

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/solar-canal-concept-could-be-a-win-for-clean-energy-and-water-conservation-1.5965657

Solar canal concept could be a win for clean energy and water conservation

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/solar-canal-concept-could-be-a-win-for-clean-energy-and-water-conservation-1.5965657

Bob McDonald's blog: Studies and experiments demonstrate the viability of over-water solar

Bob McDonald · CBC Radio · Posted: Mar 26, 2021 3:32 PM ET | Last Updated: March 26

"SNIP.....

An Indian woman fetches water underneath India's first 1MW canal-top solar power plant at Chandrasan village of Mehsana district. (SAM PANTHAKY/AFP via Getty Images)

An idea to cover California's huge network of irrigation canals with solar panels could provide clean energy and conserve scarce water resources. It's a concept that's already being pursued elsewhere in the world.

California is a state thirsty for water and hungry for energy, facing rising temperatures and more frequent droughts. So this notion of covering canals with photovoltaic panels could be a significant boon to the state.

One of the drawbacks of solar energy is the vast area the panels need to cover to collect enough sunlight to make useful amounts of electricity. Ideally you don't want those panels to cover lands suitable for agriculture. That's why many of solar farms in California are located in desert areas.

A new study from of the University of California Santa Cruz broke down the costs and benefits of covering canals with solar panels on a large scale.

......SNIP"

[Wounded Bear]

1. Great idea! nt

[Native]

2. So cool!

[Beakybird]

3. I'm going to get one over my bathtub!

[applegrove]

4. Your bathtub must be outside!!!!

[Beakybird]

5. Are you sure? Oh man!!

[Wounded Bear]

6. Well, if you have a skylight, maybe...

[applegrove]

7. Imagine if you had skylights everywhere collecting energy. You could see

the stars as you sleep. Yes a skylight in a bathroom would work too.

[applegrove]

8. Oh it could be a skylight.

[Disaffected]

9. The panels in the India installation

are supported by arch trusses (expensive). I wonder if floating the cells would be cheaper. For example, fasten them to sheets of a buoyant material such as styrofoam and tether them, together in removeable sections, to the shore.

[applegrove]

10. I am assuming they are too valuable and have a delicate chemical

reaction to add buoyancy and industrial waterproofing to them aswell.

[Disaffected]

11. I'm referring to

mounting normal solar cell panels to the floats (not the individual cells themselves), similarly to how they would be mounted on a roof or frame.

Feasibility would depend in part on how often the panel sections would have to be raised for dredging, cleaning etc. of the canals.

Mount the sections close together and evaporation would be reduced to almost zero.

[applegrove]

12. Good that the world of science has a chance once again to make the world better.

Go Biden. Give wings to these things.

[theophilus]

13. Hotter areas would benefit from a cover of panels over parking lots. Shady area for cars and

electricity for whatever it is that people are parking to do/enter/etc. Many areas in the south, southwest, and west might benefit.

[applegrove]

14. Good point.

[crickets]

15. That's a great idea. The blacktop gets so hot in the summer. nt