US urged to install solar panels on canal

In a push for unprecedented investment in renewable energy, more than 100 environmentalists recently sent a letter Thursday urging U.S. officials to consider installing solar panels above nearly 8,000 miles of open canals and aqueducts owned and operated by the federal government. "This could potentially generate more than 25 GW of renewable energy, enough to power nearly 20 million homes and reduce water evaporation by tens of billions of gallons," the environmental official said

in a letter sent to the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation. Organizations

sponsoring the initiative include Greenpeace and the Endangered Species Alliance, stressing that the unique feature of this renewable energy initiative is that it can be done without destroying wildlife habitat because it uses existing structures. & nbsp;

The groups say tying solar panels to the top will not only generate electricity, but also reduce evaporative water loss from droughts caused by climate change.

"Instead of sacrificing more public lands, the Department of the Interior should be deploying renewable energy in places like aqueducts that have already been developed," said Brett Hartle, director of government affairs for the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit conservation group that signed the letter. "We don't have to pave thousands of acres of desert public land and destroy wildlife habitat for renewable energy.". This initiative can help reduce water loss, create jobs for frontline communities and protect public lands.

The organizations note that such actions could bring the United States into compliance with the Energy Act of 2020, which promises to allow at least 25 gigawatts of wind, solar and geothermal project power to be leased on federal lands by 2025. "The Bureau of Reclamation has full authority to execute the plan,"

the organizations wrote. They noted that Congress had granted authority to the Department of the Interior to grant leases authorizing the use of Bureau of Reclamation lands.

The groups wrote that many of the canals operated by the Bureau of Reclamation are located in areas with poor air quality and are close to communities made up primarily of people of color living below the poverty threshold. "In addition to addressing air pollution, a focused deployment of renewable energy on the Bureau's canal system could have the added benefit of providing clean energy to replace existing dirty energy in these communities, while also providing more jobs,"

the report said.

In addition, desert land advocates say installing solar panels on the canal will help protect desert ecosystems where renewable energy projects might otherwise be built. Cody Hanford, co-executive director of the Mojave Desert Land Trust, a California conservation group that

signed the letter, made the point in a statement Thursday. & nbsp;

"We work with federal agencies every day to ensure that conservation is part of our energy transformation," he said. "Prioritizing the development of solar energy in canals and urban areas can help reduce the pressure on our fragile desert wastelands."

California has launched a pilot project called Project Nexus to install solar panels on some canals in the Turlock Irrigation District outside Modesto, California. The project is a collaboration between the government, a private company called Solar AquaGrid, which will serve as the project developer, and UC Merced researchers.

In 2021, researchers found that covering 3,945 miles of the Golden State's canals with solar panels could generate significant amounts of clean energy and slow the evaporation of 63 billion gallons of water each year — an exciting prospect for a drought-prone region.

In addition, the researchers say that while the steel trusses and cables used to suspend solar panels over waterways are more expensive than traditional ground-or roof-mounted solutions, they are much cheaper than cost of land acquisition. Countries such as

India and Lebanon are also beginning to install similar systems . A project in Gujarat,

India, launched in 2012, is expected to generate 1 megawatt of electricity per year while preventing 2.4 million gallons of water from evaporating. The project covers 2,460 feet, and they found that the price per megawatt is much lower than price of a traditional solar farm. Globally

, governments and consumers are set to add a record amount of renewable electricity in 2023, hoping to take advantage of the solar boom and avoid higher fossil fuel prices, which spiked after Russia's attack on Ukraine. The Interior Department declined to comment

on Thursday, and the Bureau of Land Reclamation did not respond to a request for comment on the letter.