The idea of putting solar panels on top of the world's thousands of miles of irrigation canals has long seemed like a good one.
  • @Smoke@beehaw.orgEnglish
    6•2 years ago

    My first reaction would be that static panels aren’t efficient at collecting energy relative to the space they take up, compared to one that follows the sun. From the picture you could get one panel facing south at most, one facing straight and one facing the wrong way - and that’s if the canal’s route allows for facing south at all. This is the same issue that killed Solar Roadways.

    • IrinaEnglish
      3•2 years ago

      It doesn’t matter if they’re efficient relative to the space taken, if the space taken is functionally 0 (since the space isn’t used for anything else). The poleward side of an east-west canal could also just be cloth or some other kind of shade to lower install costs!