Thursday, 30th April 2026

Governer California

Governor Newsom announced the launch of California’s first-of-its-kind solar-covered canal, a project that will explore how this approach generates clean electricity, keeps water from evaporating before it ever reaches a farm or a faucet, and, if scaled further, help strengthen the state’s water infrastructure to withstand a hotter, drier future. The completion of this innovative solar infrastructure, Project Nexus, will test how solar panels installed over irrigation canals may contribute to clean energy generation, evaporation reduction, and water conservation in the Central Valley. The pilot project represents a unique public-private and academic partnership between the California Department of Water Resources, Turlock Irrigation District (TID), solar development firm SolarAquaGrid LLC, and the University of California, Merced — all working together to pioneer innovation in Turlock. Project Nexus will measure how much clean energy the solar panels generate, how much water is saved by reducing evaporation, whether water quality improves, and whether covering canals reduces the cost of maintaining them, including by limiting the vegetation growth, and potentially cutting down millions of dollars TID spends annually on maintenance. “DWR appreciates the opportunity to test an exciting idea in real-world conditions and learn more about how we might combine energy generation and reliable water deliveries without expanding our development footprint,” said John Yarbrough, DWR Deputy Director for the State Water Project. “We look forward to learning even more about how the solar-over-canals concept may support California’s clean energy goals and long-term drought resilience.”