IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natsus/v4y2021i7d10.1038_s41893-021-00693-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy and water co-benefits from covering canals with solar panels

Author

Listed:
  • Brandi McKuin

    (University of California
    University of California)

  • Andrew Zumkehr

    (University of California)

  • Jenny Ta

    (University of California)

  • Roger Bales

    (University of California)

  • Joshua H. Viers

    (University of California)

  • Tapan Pathak

    (University of California)

  • J. Elliott Campbell

    (University of California)

Abstract

Solar power development over canals is an emerging response to the energy–water–food nexus that can result in multiple benefits for water and energy infrastructure. Case studies of over-canal solar photovoltaic arrays have demonstrated enhanced photovoltaic performance due to the cooler microclimate next to the canal. In addition, shade from the photovoltaic panels has been shown to mitigate evaporation and potentially mitigate aquatic weed growth. However, the evaporation savings and financial co-benefits have not been quantified across major canal systems. Here we use regional hydrologic and techno-economic simulations of solar photovoltaic panels covering California’s 6,350 km canal network, which is the world’s largest conveyance system and covers a wide range of climates, insolation rates and water costs. We find that over-canal solar could reduce annual evaporation by an average of 39 ± 12 thousand m3 per km of canal. Furthermore, the financial benefits from shading the canals outweigh the added costs of the cable-support structures required to span the canals. The net present value of over-canal solar exceeds conventional overground solar by 20–50%, challenging the convention of leaving canals uncovered and calling into question our understanding of the most economic locations for solar power.

Suggested Citation

  • Brandi McKuin & Andrew Zumkehr & Jenny Ta & Roger Bales & Joshua H. Viers & Tapan Pathak & J. Elliott Campbell, 2021. "Energy and water co-benefits from covering canals with solar panels," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 4(7), pages 609-617, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natsus:v:4:y:2021:i:7:d:10.1038_s41893-021-00693-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41893-021-00693-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00693-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41893-021-00693-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pouran, Hamid & Padilha Campos Lopes, Mariana & Ziar, Hesan & Alves Castelo Branco, David & Sheng, Yong, 2022. "Evaluating floating photovoltaics (FPVs) potential in providing clean energy and supporting agricultural growth in Vietnam," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    2. Xia, Zilong & Li, Yingjie & Guo, Shanchuan & Chen, Ruishan & Zhang, Wei & Zhang, Peng & Du, Peijun, 2023. "Mapping global water-surface photovoltaics with satellite images," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    3. Chen, Qi & Li, Xinyuan & Zhang, Zhengjia & Zhou, Chao & Guo, Zhiling & Liu, Zhengguang & Zhang, Haoran, 2023. "Remote sensing of photovoltaic scenarios: Techniques, applications and future directions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    4. Bai, Bo & Xiong, Siqin & Ma, Xiaoming & Liao, Xiawei, 2024. "Assessment of floating solar photovoltaic potential in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    5. Ma, Chao & Liu, Zhao, 2022. "Water-surface photovoltaics: Performance, utilization, and interactions with water eco-environment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    6. Xu, Jiuping & Zhao, Chuandang & Wang, Fengjuan & Yang, Guocan, 2022. "Industrial decarbonisation oriented distributed renewable generation towards wastewater treatment sector: Case from the Yangtze River Delta region in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    7. Usmani, Sabah & Siddiqi, Afreen & Wescoat, James L., 2021. "Energy generation in the canal irrigation network in India: Integrated spatial planning framework on the Upper Ganga Canal corridor," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    8. Zhang, Chunxiao & Shen, Chao & Zhang, Yingbo & Sun, Cheng & Chwieduk, Dorota & Kalogirou, Soteris A., 2021. "Optimization of the electricity/heat production of a PV/T system based on spectral splitting with Ag nanofluid," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 30-39.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natsus:v:4:y:2021:i:7:d:10.1038_s41893-021-00693-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.