{"id":28538,"date":"2025-09-17T12:28:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T12:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/?p=28538"},"modified":"2026-01-05T12:29:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T12:29:23","slug":"solar-panels-on-californias-irrigation-canals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/solar-panels-on-californias-irrigation-canals\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Panels on California&#8217;s Irrigation Canals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A 1.6 MW solar power plant, built on an irrigation canal in <strong>California<\/strong>, USA, has been put into operation. The project generates <strong>clean electricity<\/strong> and also reduces <strong>water evaporation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>1.6 MW solar energy system<\/strong>, installed on the canals of the Turlock Irrigation District in California, has entered service. This <strong>$20 million<\/strong> state-funded pilot project is presented as a model for agricultural regions affected by <strong>water scarcity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of the <strong>Nexus Project<\/strong>, two different sections of the canal in Stanislaus County, one <strong>30 meters wide<\/strong> and the other <strong>6 meters wide<\/strong>, were covered with panels. Both systems began operating at full capacity in <strong>August 2025<\/strong>. The project serves as a test to study the design, installation, and additional benefits of <strong>canal-top solar power<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"438\" src=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/indir-2-6.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28539\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/indir-2-6.webp 720w, https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/indir-2-6-300x183.webp 300w, https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/indir-2-6-150x91.webp 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The project also includes an <strong>energy storage system<\/strong>. It uses <strong>75 kW iron flow batteries<\/strong> from the US-based manufacturer ESS. Each container can store <strong>400 kWh of energy<\/strong> and offers a lifespan of more than 20,000 cycles with a fully recyclable electrolyte system. The iron components are obtained through recycling, and the electrolyte solution consists of saltwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Project Nexus | Water &amp; Energy Integration for the Future\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BdIj6VcAZHo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Under research support, the University of California Merced campus has installed measuring devices in both areas. Although <strong>water savings from evaporation<\/strong> have not yet been measured, a previous study showed that covering all of California&#8217;s <strong>4,000 km of canals<\/strong> could save <strong>238 million cubic meters of water per year<\/strong>. This amount is equivalent to irrigating <strong>200,000 acres of farmland<\/strong> or providing drinking water for more than <strong>2 million people<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">You Might Also Like;<\/h3>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__list wp-block-latest-posts\"><li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/artemis-2s-deep-space-eclipse\/\">The View That Changes Everything: Artemis 2\u2019s Deep Space Eclipse<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/youtubes-digital-clone-era\/\">YouTube&#8217;s Digital Clone Era: Create Your AI Avatar for Shorts<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/petcube-gps-tracker-review-specs-features-price\/\">Petcube GPS Tracker Review: Specs, Features &amp; Price<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 1.6 MW solar power plant, built on an irrigation canal in California, USA, has been put into operation. The project generates clean electricity and also reduces water evaporation. The 1.6 MW solar energy system, installed on the canals of the Turlock Irrigation District in California, has entered service. This $20 million state-funded pilot project &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAown96uCw:productID":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[337],"class_list":["post-28538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-futurescience","tag-future-energy"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}