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“We knew that we were going to have to cut back on pumping. And that necessarily meant land conversion.”

Covering the 4,000 miles of California's water canals could reduce evaporation by as much as 82 percent, saving about 63 billion gallons of water a year. That's comparable to the same amount needed to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland or meet the residential water needs of more than 2 million people. Covering all state water canals with solar installations would also generate 13 gigawatts of renewable power, equaling roughly 1/6th of the state's current installed capacity — about half the projected new capacity needed by 2030 to meet the state's decarbonization goals.

Research by a UC Merced graduate student has led to the nation's first pilot project that puts solar panels over water canals.

A research project conducted by a UC Merced graduate student is becoming a reality as the Turlock Irrigation District (TID) approved piloting the first-in-the-nation construction of solar panels over water canals.