{"id":20160,"date":"2025-11-24T20:55:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/2025\/11\/24\/californias-new-solar-panels-do-more-than-generate-power\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T20:55:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:55:56","slug":"californias-new-solar-panels-do-more-than-generate-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/2025\/11\/24\/californias-new-solar-panels-do-more-than-generate-power\/","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s new solar panels do MORE than generate power"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"youtubomatic-video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"autoplay\" width=\"580\" height=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EtJzOtOpYdo?controls=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>In the middle of California&#8217;s Central Valley, a new way to use solar panels could change how we think about clean energy and water. It\u2019s a simple idea that people have talked about for decades, but only now is it finally being tested in real life.<\/p>\n<p>To understand what\u2019s going on, we went out to the Central Valley and spoke with @UCMerced&#8217;s Brandi McKuin, whose study set this whole project into motion. <\/p>\n<p>*FEATURING:* <br \/>Brandi McKuin, Project Scientist, UC Merced <\/p>\n<p>*CITATIONS:*<br \/>&#8211; Project Nexus: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tid.org\/current-projects\/project-nexus\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.tid.org\/current-projects\/project-nexus\/<\/a><br \/>&#8211; Ember electricity data explorer: <a href=\"https:\/\/ember-energy.org\/data\/us-electricity-data-explorer\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/ember-energy.org\/data\/us-electricity-data-explorer\/<\/a><br \/>&#8211; 2 Terawatt milestone achieved: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarpowereurope.org\/press-releases\/global-solar-council-announces-2-terawatt-milestone-achieved-for-solar-1\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.solarpowereurope.org\/press-releases\/global-solar-council-announces-2-terawatt-milestone-achieved-for-solar-1<\/a><br \/>&#8211; Innovations have led to cheaper solar panels: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mit.edu\/2025\/surprisingly-diverse-innovations-led-to-dramatically-cheaper-solar-panels-0811\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/news.mit.edu\/2025\/surprisingly-diverse-innovations-led-to-dramatically-cheaper-solar-panels-0811<\/a><br \/>&#8211; California agriculture production statistics: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdfa.ca.gov\/statistics\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.cdfa.ca.gov\/statistics\/<\/a><br \/>&#8211; California agriculture production statistics: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdfa.ca.gov\/statistics\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.cdfa.ca.gov\/statistics\/<\/a><br \/>&#8211; Solar panels over canals can save water for 50,000 acres of farmland: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.ucmerced.edu\/news\/2021\/solar-panels-over-canals-can-save-money-energy-and-water-study-shows\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/news.ucmerced.edu\/news\/2021\/solar-panels-over-canals-can-save-money-energy-and-water-study-shows<\/a><br \/>&#8211; California&#8217;s first solar-covered canals: <a href=\"https:\/\/grist.org\/energy\/californias-first-solar-covered-canal-is-now-fully-online\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/grist.org\/energy\/californias-first-solar-covered-canal-is-now-fully-online\/<\/a><br \/>&#8211; Farmer&#8217;s guide to going solar: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/eere\/solar\/farmers-guide-going-solar\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/eere\/solar\/farmers-guide-going-solar<\/a><br \/>&#8211; Best crops that thrive under solar panels: <a href=\"https:\/\/growingsolarmist.com\/best-crops-that-thrive-under-solar-panels\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/growingsolarmist.com\/best-crops-that-thrive-under-solar-panels\/<\/a><br \/>&#8211; Agrivoltaic projects in China: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pv-magazine.com\/2020\/09\/03\/giant-agrivoltaic-project-in-china\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.pv-magazine.com\/2020\/09\/03\/giant-agrivoltaic-project-in-china\/<\/a><br \/>&#8211; Solar panels on water reservoirs: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/solar-panels-floating-in-reservoirs-well-drink-to-that\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/solar-panels-floating-in-reservoirs-well-drink-to-that\/<\/a><br \/>&#8211; End of life management for photovoltaics: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/eere\/solar\/end-life-management-solar-photovoltaics\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/eere\/solar\/end-life-management-solar-photovoltaics<\/a><br \/>&#8211; Gila River Community breaks ground on solar canal project: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/clean-energy-native-american-gila-river-b2462895.html\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/clean-energy-native-american-gila-river-b2462895.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>#solar #solarenergy #solarpower #cleanenergy #california #technews <\/p>\n<p>*CHAPTERS:*<br \/>00:00 The solar energy boom<br \/>01:21 California&#8217;s water system<br \/>01:49 What is Project Nexus?<br \/>03:16 The wide span and the narrow span<br \/>04:00 Saving California farmland<br \/>04:49 Solar energy in different built environments  <br \/>05:26 More creative ways to use solar <br \/>06:12 Design challenges<br \/>07:03 The Gila River Solar Canal Project<br \/>07:51 UC Merced research and testing<\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa *Subscribe!* <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/1fUWHyY\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/bit.ly\/1fUWHyY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fig. 1 explores big ideas \u2014from science to culture to history to psychology \u2014 and the brilliant minds behind it.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83e\udde0 Find more Fig. 1 at: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.universityofcalifornia.edu\/fig1?utm_source=youtube-fig1&#038;utm_medium=social-organic\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.universityofcalifornia.edu\/fig1?utm_source=youtube-fig1&#038;utm_medium=social-organic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the middle of California&#8217;s Central Valley, a new way to use solar panels could change how we think about clean energy and water. It\u2019s a simple idea that people have talked about for decades, but only now is it finally being tested in real life. To understand what\u2019s going on, we went out to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8553,"featured_media":20161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66038,2936,66031,5388,33,66028,66029,66035,49,27978,6185,66032,66033,7048,19758,66034,34,66030,66036,66037,66027,66026],"tags":[66025,2917,66018,5372,6,66015,66016,66022,22,27966,6175,66019,66020,7043,19741,66021,7,66017,66023,66024,66014,66013],"class_list":["post-20160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brandi-mckuin","category-california","category-discovery","category-documentary","category-explainer","category-fig-1","category-figure-1","category-project-nexus","category-science","category-science-for-kids","category-science-news","category-science-videos","category-science-videos-for-kids","category-solar-canals","category-solar-capacity","category-solar-over-canals","category-solar-power","category-uc","category-uc-merced","category-ucm","category-university","category-university-of-california","tag-brandi-mckuin","tag-california","tag-discovery","tag-documentary","tag-explainer","tag-fig-1","tag-figure-1","tag-project-nexus","tag-science","tag-science-for-kids","tag-science-news","tag-science-videos","tag-science-videos-for-kids","tag-solar-canals","tag-solar-capacity","tag-solar-over-canals","tag-solar-power","tag-uc","tag-uc-merced","tag-ucm","tag-university","tag-university-of-california"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8553"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/youtubomatic-test\/demoa26f6b3a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}