California Covers Its Canals With Solar Panels To Tackle Drought

California is about to turn the harsh realities of drought and extreme heat and produce something good from it. 

The Golden State has resolved to cover its canals with solar panels in order to prevent water from evaporating while also capturing sun rays in order to take advantage of the warmth that has been sweeping the globe this summer.

The project—named the Nexus Project—was brought forward by the University of California Santa Cruz. The findings, which were published in the Nature journal, figured out that placing these solar cells would save the country 63.5 billion gallons of water annually. 

The research team also determined that, with an average of 290 days of sunshine, the panels would be able to replace 15–20 diesel generators that are currently being used to channel water through the waterways.

The installation will be led by Turlock Irrigation District. The solar panels will be implemented in the town of Hickman, where a 500-foot section of a canal and a second mile-long section in Ceres will be the first places where the project will start.

Water is not the only valuable resource that would be saved by the Nexus Project; land too will be spared as land is cleared for energy harvesting cells.

The concept was first conceived in Gujarat, India, in 2014. The Vadodara neighborhood was the first place to cover an entire canal in solar panels.

According to the findings of this experiment, the water circulating beneath the panels cooled down the entire system and kept the cells from overheating.

California is making considerable moves to have the state enhance its sustainability measures. Just recently, a law was passed that stipulates the end of sales of gas-powered cars by 2035.

[via Good News Network and ExtremeTech, cover image via Turlock Irrigation District]