The need for clean water and the desire for cheap electricity are becoming intertwined in the face of AI data centers and the damage they cause. Many people claim that solar power is a potential solution to our clean energy needs, but can it help provide clean water? When placed near a water source, this is possible.
Turlock Irrigation District (TID) Water & Power recently released results from a pilot project called Project Nexus, a proof-of-concept study to determine the benefits of covering water channels with solar panels. Some of the benefits are pretty obvious, like renewable energy production, but the project also determined how much water the solar cells could preserve by preventing evaporation, and it measured whether the panels improved water quality.
The Nexus project began in 2022 as a collaboration between TID Water & Power, the California Department of Water Resources, Solar AquaGrid and the University of California, and the installation was completed and put into service in 2025. Although the panels only cover tiny stretches of canals of varying widths, researchers estimate that if they covered all 4,000 miles of California canals, the project could save $63 billion. gallons of water each year, enough to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland or provide drinking water for 2 million residents. And that’s on top of an estimated energy surplus of 13 gigawatts of electricity, more than half the solar energy officials want by 2030. Oh, and the panels could reduce the growth of aquatic weeds that clog the canal.
The future looks bright… or dark
The Nexus project is just the latest installation to demonstrate how large solar farms can potentially benefit the landscape. China’s largest solar farm transforms the surrounding desert into slightly greener greenlands, and solar panel installations serve as unexpected refuges for endangered species such as the San Joaquin kit fox. The Nexus project may seem promising, but it is far from being a sure bet.
While the team involved predicted that solar canopies could generate gigawatts of juice and conserve billions of gallons of water, that’s all it is at the moment: a prediction. Engineers won’t know exactly how much energy Project Nexus can produce until solar panels cover every square inch of the canals. And according to a leading member of the Nexus Project team, Professor Roger Bales, the technology involved is ready and waiting to be applied. Sure, science relies on repetition, but Project Nexus is not the planet’s first solar channel. In 2024, the Gila River Indian Community opened its own solar canal and ended up producing more electricity than expected. The science is there; the only question is whether anyone is willing to foot the bill for such an endeavor.
As of this writing, Project Nexus principal investigator Dr. Brandi McKuin said more research is needed to determine whether providing California’s canals with continuous solar array is even economically viable. Additionally, the California Department of Water Resources is also eagerly monitoring the Nexus project. Further discoveries could mean the difference between turning the majority (or all) of California’s canals into solar farms and converting only a small portion of the land, if any. Basically, researchers need a strong argument.
