Spotlight April 2022: TID Solar Canal Experiment Well Received, Closely Watched by ACWA Staff Apr 15, 2022 Newsletters An artistic rendering shows how a stretch of Turlock Irrigation District canal would appear with solar panels mounted over it through the Project Nexus pilot project breaking ground later this year. Photo courtesy of TID California’s oldest irrigation district could spark the country’s newest breakthrough in building multi-beneficial climate change resilience through an experiment that will cover a portion of its canal system in solar paneling. Since announcing the experiment – Project Nexus – in February, Turlock Irrigation District (TID) has drawn national and international attention about the project. The ACWA member agency, which provides both water and power, has also received widespread attention from within the water community. Calls about Project Nexus included one from an irrigation district in New Zealand, said TID External Affairs Department Manager Josh Weimer during a TID Water & Power Podcast. “There’s a tremendous amount of interest from water agencies that have contacted us and want to be kept up to speed about progress on the project, what roadblocks we’ve encountered and what we’ve done to mitigate them,” Weimer said. Project Nexus is a public-private-academic partnership among TID, the Department of Water Resources (DWR), Solar AquaGrid, and the University of California, Merced. The first-ever solar panel over canal development in the U.S., the project will assess reduction of water evaporation resulting from mid-day shade and wind mitigation; improvements to water quality through reduced vegetative growth; reduction in canal maintenance through reduced vegetative growth; and generation of renewable electricity, according to a TID news release. During the podcast, Weimer said that the biggest comment since the announcement is how TID plans to keep the panels clean, especially during the dusty Central Valley harvest. However, the district can rely on technology that cleans the panels, including methods that do not require water. Groundbreaking on Project Nexus is scheduled for this fall, with project completion expected in 2024 at multiple locations throughout the TID service territory in California’s Central Valley. In its initial stage, the project will cover less than two miles of solar paneling over various sections of TID’s canal system, using existing TID infrastructure to keep costs low and efficiency high while supporting the region’s sustainable farming tradition. Additionally, energy storage will be installed to study how storage facilities can support the local electric grid when solar generation is suboptimal due to cloud cover. The $20 million project is funded by DWR, which will oversee administration of the project, provide technical assistance and serve as a research partner. “In our 135-year history, we’ve always pursued innovative projects that benefit TID water and power customers,” stated TID Board President Michael Frantz in a district news release. “There will always be reasons to say ‘no’ to projects like this, but as the first public irrigation district in California, we aren’t afraid to chart a new path with pilot projects that have potential to meet our water and energy sustainability goals.” While Project Nexus, especially if expanded beyond a demonstration project, offers benefits to TID, the project is seen as a template with potential to be replicated elsewhere in the state to help California achieve its water and energy goals. The inspiration for Project Nexus comes from the concept presented in a recent University of California study, published last year in the journal Nature Sustainability. The UC study illustrated that covering all of the approximately 4,000 miles of California canals could show a savings of 63 billion gallons of water annually, comparable to the amount needed to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland or meet the residential water needs of more than 2 million people. According to the study, the 13 gigawatts of solar power the solar panels would generate each year would equal about one sixth of the state’s current installed capacity. Turlock Irrigation District has retained Bay Area development firm Solar AquaGrid as project developers and program managers for TID and Project Nexus. The two agencies have been collaborating since the project’s inception. Solar AquaGrid originated the project after commissioning the UC Merced Study in 2015 and has facilitated collaboration among the various parties to bring Project Nexus to fruition. For additional information about the project and project partners, visit www.tid.org/projectnexus.
