Naysayers are quick to ask questions about renewables, but slow to listen to or comprehend the answers. “Where do we get the land to install solar PV?” You yell, using the WaPo as a platform to spread your cynicism. Well…let’s talk about that. A recent study discusses using California’s 4,100 miles of water conveyance canals as land for solar PV. The study found that this creates synergistic benefits - the canals cool the PV and make them perform better, while the PV prevents evaporation and mitigates aquatic weeds. Overall, the cost analysis of the benefits adds up to about half the cost of the PV installations. The study found that such a system would save approx. 65 billion gallons of water per year to evaporation, save an equivalent cost in weed mitigation, and could produce 14,000 mw of solar power…this is about half of the state’s existing solar infrastructure, or about 7-10% of it’s total annual power needs. None of that land would be pulled from other uses, and the potential to generate even more power is there if the solar PV is made wider…for example, if it covers the access roads in addition to just spanning the canals.
The land is there for the people who want to employ ingenuity and innovation. For people writing mealy-mouthed opinion pieces to get attention, I’ll admit it’s probably hard to find the acreage.
Um, that is not what the audit said. You missed the 55,000 fraudulent ballots, nice try.
Naysayers are quick to ask questions about renewables, but slow to listen to or comprehend the answers. “Where do we get the land to install solar PV?” You yell, using the WaPo as a platform to spread your cynicism. Well…let’s talk about that. A recent study discusses using California’s 4,100 miles of water conveyance canals as land for solar PV. The study found that this creates synergistic benefits - the canals cool the PV and make them perform better, while the PV prevents evaporation and mitigates aquatic weeds. Overall, the cost analysis of the benefits adds up to about half the cost of the PV installations. The study found that such a system would save approx. 65 billion gallons of water per year to evaporation, save an equivalent cost in weed mitigation, and could produce 14,000 mw of solar power…this is about half of the state’s existing solar infrastructure, or about 7-10% of it’s total annual power needs. None of that land would be pulled from other uses, and the potential to generate even more power is there if the solar PV is made wider…for example, if it covers the access roads in addition to just spanning the canals.
The land is there for the people who want to employ ingenuity and innovation. For people writing mealy-mouthed opinion pieces to get attention, I’ll admit it’s probably hard to find the acreage.