California to cover canal with solar panels in experiment to fight drought, climate change
California is about to launch an experiment to cover aqueducts with solar panels, a plan that if scaled up might save billions of gallons of otherwise evaporated water while powering millions of homes. Project Nexus in the Turlock Irrigation District launches in mid-October amid Western North America’s worst drought in 1,200 years and as human-influenced climate change exacerbates the dry spell. The $20 million project, funded by the state, is due to break ground in two locations. One is a 500-foot (152-meter or about 0.3-mile) span along a curved portion of the canal in the town of Hickman, about 100 miles (160 km) inland from San Francisco. The other is a mile-long (1.6-km long) straightaway in nearby Ceres.