If all 4,000 miles of California’s canals were covered with solar panels, that could produce 13 gigawatts of renewable power. A gigawatt is enough to power 750,000 homes, so that would be enough power for 9.75 million households. For perspective, as of July 2021, there were 13.1 million households in California.
 

https://electrek.co/2022/08/26/in-a-us-first-california-will-pilot-solar-panel-canopies-over-canals/

Yeah but how many trees do they have to cut down????

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 27, 20222 yr by Plissken

1 minute ago, Plissken said:

Yeah but how many trees do they have to cut down????

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or farm fields and habitat destroyed!!!!

 

8 minutes ago, BOHICA said:

If all 4,000 miles of California’s canals were covered with solar panels, that could produce 13 gigawatts of renewable power. A gigawatt is enough to power 750,000 homes, so that would be enough power for 9.75 million households. For perspective, as of July 2021, there were 13.1 million households in California.
 

https://electrek.co/2022/08/26/in-a-us-first-california-will-pilot-solar-panel-canopies-over-canals/

Article says a 1mile span 500ft wide will cost 20 million, also says there are 4000 miles of canal..anyone care to do the math on this quick..

So how much money will they get from the inflation reduction act for this?  When you give out money for only certain projects, then of course you will have people taking advantage.

Edited August 27, 20222 yr by racer254

Just now, racer254 said:

So how much money will they get from the inflation reduction act for this?  When you give out money for only certain projects, then of course you will have people taking advantage.

30%

 

but also helps with evaporation and toxic algae growths caused from farming fertilizers entering water ways

4 minutes ago, Rigid1 said:

Article says a 1mile span 500ft wide will cost 20 million, also says there are 4000 miles of canal..anyone care to do the math on this quick..

1 mile span and a 500 ft span.  Usually tests like this are a bit more expensive.  Prices would come down if the scale eventually goes up.

 

• A 500-foot span of a canal in Hickman, east of Modesto
• A mile-long canal span in the nearby city of Ceres

1 minute ago, BOHICA said:

30%

 

but also helps with evaporation and toxic algae growths caused from farming fertilizers entering water ways

The evaporation would be good, my dad lives in AZ and the don't get much life out of appliances and filters due to mineral build up, by the time the water makes it to them so much has evaporated the water is just saturated with minerals

2 minutes ago, BOHICA said:

1 mile span and a 500 ft span.  Usually tests like this are a bit more expensive.  Prices would come down if the scale eventually goes up.

 

• A 500-foot span of a canal in Hickman, east of Modesto
• A mile-long canal span in the nearby city of Ceres

What's there to test? It's not like solar is a new thing, and the sun has been around for a little while now..

1 minute ago, Rigid1 said:

The evaporation would be good, my dad lives in AZ and the don't get much life out of appliances and filters due to mineral build up, by the time the water makes it to them so much has evaporated the water is just saturated with minerals

Massive amounts of water saved…

In a 2021 study, we showed that covering all 4,000 miles of California’s canals with solar panels would save more than 65 billion gallons of water annually by reducing evaporation. That’s enough to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland or meet the residential water needs of more than 2 million people.

Just now, Rigid1 said:

What's there to test? It's not like solar is a new thing, and the sun has been around for a little while now..

Feasibility, potential maintenance issues, construction techniques, Designs, and such.

Just now, BOHICA said:

Massive amounts of water saved…

In a 2021 study, we showed that covering all 4,000 miles of California’s canals with solar panels would save more than 65 billion gallons of water annually by reducing evaporation. That’s enough to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland or meet the residential water needs of more than 2 million people.

I will agree with that, I think my dad said he has to change his fridges water filter every few weeks, I think he was looking at getting some sort of filter system for the whole house, been there 6 years and has had to do a dishwasher and a laundry washer already due to mineral build up 

1 minute ago, BOHICA said:

Feasibility, potential maintenance issues, construction techniques, Designs, and such.

 How do you maintain your solar panels? Is there a lot involved?

11 minutes ago, Rigid1 said:

 How do you maintain your solar panels? Is there a lot involved?

Cleaning occasionally depending on birds an what ever settles from the air on them.  If I do need to pull a panel it’s pretty simple….  Over a canal could potential cause some issues that could be discovered on test spans that could be engineered out

1 minute ago, BOHICA said:

Cleaning occasionally depending on birds an what ever settles from the air on them.  If I do need to pull a panel it’s pretty simple….  Over a canal could potential cause some issues that could be discovered on test spans that could be engineered out

Yeah, maybe from humidity being over water. does it get hot under your panels, where that might not stop the evaporation that's taking place, would it be possible that it actually might increase it?

Just now, Rigid1 said:

Yeah, maybe from humidity being over water. does it get hot under your panels, where that might not stop the evaporation that's taking place, would it be possible that it actually might increase it?

Panels definitely get hot under them.  But over a canal system I would think as heat rises it would lower the temp of heated water in the canal system.  Plus keep growths down in the water.  I would think panels would function like shade balls.

So for all of these reasons, shade balls reduce evaporation by 80 to 90 percent," Derek explains. "That's pretty significant for a dry climate like Los Angeles."

https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-what-s-really-going-on-with-those-black-balls-in-the-la-reservoir/amp
 

What will happen when there needs to major maintenance on the canals?

4 minutes ago, steepndeep said:

What will happen when there needs to major maintenance on the canals?

Good reason to do a test spans to see what is the easiest to remove or perform potential canal maintenance based on designs.

 

it’s kind of like Trumps border walls.  Lots of designs developed and tested before it was built with the best design 

56 minutes ago, BOHICA said:

Or farm fields and habitat destroyed!!!!

 

You are like a fusion buyer on the fourms 

4 hours ago, BOHICA said:

30%

 

but also helps with evaporation and toxic algae growths caused from farming fertilizers entering water ways

They would not be so concerned with evaporation if the CA liberals did not make the farmers and land owners in CA destroy the dams and  irrigation canals that brought the runoff from the mountains to the fields . But yeah I know the endangered sand flee and spotted lizard had to be saved . 

Edited August 27, 20222 yr by Ez ryder

Could help give shelter to a lot of California's homeless too   

5 minutes ago, Ez ryder said:

You are like a fusion buyer on the fourms 

He's definitely moving full speed ahead with his new cult/crush

48 minutes ago, Rigid1 said:

 How do you maintain your solar panels? Is there a lot involved?

While working in Illinois, one operator I subbed for has a contract to spray the solar farms with Rain-X once a month, so every month on a 1000 acre solar farm that's $10,000 not including the cost of product. 

56 minutes ago, BOHICA said:

Massive amounts of water saved…

In a 2021 study, we showed that covering all 4,000 miles of California’s canals with solar panels would save more than 65 billion gallons of water annually by reducing evaporation. That’s enough to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland or meet the residential water needs of more than 2 million people.

Climate change is making all the water vanish so why would they bother?

People that advocate for wind and solar have zero understanding of the physics of energy 

24 minutes ago, ACE said:

People that advocate for wind and solar have zero understanding of the physics of energy