The first channel covered with California solar is now entirely online

A new solar energy project has just put itself online in the central valley of California, with panels that extend on the canals in the vast agricultural region.
The installation of 1.6 megawatt, called Project Nexus, was fully completed at the end of last month. The state funded by the state of $ 20 million has transformed the stretching of the Turlock irrigation district channels into clean electricity production centers in a distant area where cotton, tomatoes, almonds and hundreds of other crops are cultivated.
Project Nexus is only the second solar table based on the channel to operate in the United States – and one of a handful in the world. The first American solar channel project began producing power in October 2024 for the Pima and Maricopa tribes, known together under the name of Indian community of Gila, on their reserve near Phoenix, in Arizona. Two other channel paintings are already in preparation there.
In California, the solar channel system was built in two phases, with a 20 -foot wide section completed in March and a portion of approximately 110 feet wide ended in late August. Researchers will study the performance of the project over time, while a new initiative led by Californian universities and Solar Aquagrid’s company will aim to accelerate the deployment of solar channels across the State.
Supporters of this emerging approach say that it can offer overlapping advantages.
With the kind authorization of Turlock Irrigation District
The first research suggests that, with the production of power in areas with terrestrial limited, the establishment of solar networks above the water can help maintain fresh panels, in turn, improving their efficiency and their production of electricity. The shadow of the panels can also prevent the loss of water by evaporation in regions subject to drought and can limit the growth of algae in the sails.
In addition, solar channels could offer a faster path to clean energy development than solar farms on a public service level, in particular in rural regions of the United States, where large renewable energies are increasingly confronted with community opposition. The implementation of solar panels at the top of the existing infrastructure does not require a modification of the landscape, and relatively small installations can be connected to the nearby distribution lines, by avoiding the heavy process of connection to high -voltage wires required for larger companies.
“Why disturb the lands that have a sacred value when we could simply put solar panels on a channel and generate a more effective power?” said David Dejong, director of Pima-Maricopa Irrigation Project, which develops a water delivery system for the Indian community of Gila River.
The purpose of these first paintings is mainly to supply the equipment of the canal on site such as pumps and doors. But such projects could possibly help clean the largest grid. A coalition of American environmental groups previously estimated that the establishment of panels of more than 8,000 miles of channels and aqueducts held by the federal government could generate more than 25 renewable energy gigawatts – enough to supply nearly 20 million houses – and reduce the evaporation of water by dozens of billions of gallons.
However, technology is not an obvious choice for many channel operators.

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The rise in solar panels on the channels is more expensive and technically complex than the installation of conventional solar networks on the ground on trackers, and it may involve using more concrete and steel. Larger channels may also require support structures for panels in the navigable track, which can disrupt the flow of water.
Earlier this year, a senior engineer of the Salt River project in Arizona recommended that the public power and water public service does not continue a solar channel pilot “on the basis of cost estimates and project problems”, after having compared the unique design to solar alternatives on the roof and on the scale of public services.
The promoters of solar channels hope to be able to gain a toe in the irrigation districts which are struggling with high electricity costs and have limited options to generate a cheap power, said Ben Lempley, the founder of the Tectonicus engineering company, which designed the 1.3 megawatt system of the Indian community of Gila River in the south of Phoenix.
The initial costs are “definitively higher … but it can be very fast as a project,” said Lepley. “By next year, you can have really cheap electricity, and it gives [irrigation districts] stability during the life of 30 years of the project. »»
For its part, the Indian community of Gila River built solar channel projects in the context of its broader mission to “generate enough renewable energy to completely compensate for electrical use by the irrigation district”, said Dejong. He noted that the district pays around $ 3 million a year for the 27 million kilowatt hours of electricity it needs to pump, move and store water.

The Indian community of Gila River in Arizona is advancing with the first solar channel project in the United States
The community has built its first solar channel project on the Casa Blanca canal with a subsidy of almost $ 5.7 million granted by the inflation reduction law – which is part of a provision of $ 25 million which has provided funds for the American office to refer to design, study and deploy projects that put panels on the waterways. Irrigation districts in California, Oregon and Utah have received the remaining funds to develop their own facilities.
It is unlikely that Trump administration will support future programs, given the emphasis on the evisation of clean energy incentives, but a handful of projects are already advancing without such grants.
Dejong said that the construction is 90% complete on the second solar canal project in the tribal community, a network of almost 0.9 megawatt built in partnership with the US Army Corps of Engineers, which should go online later this year. The self-financing community a similar size project on the Santan canal and develops a floating solar network on one of its tanks, the two systems that should be operational in early 2026. All in all, the facilities will provide 4 megawatts in local clean energy production, he said.
“We are very familiar with the economy of building these [canal] Projects, “said Lepley, whose company has also worked on the second and third solar channel systems in the Gila River community.” We have a fairly good game book on how to continue these projects in the future, even without any funding for the federal government. »»