Solar panels bolted over 2 working irrigation canals in California’s Central Valley cut evaporation beneath them by as much as 70 percent, and the aquatic weed that fouls those channels dropped by about 85 percent

Steel trusses cross a working irrigation canal in Stanislaus County, and rows of solar panels sit on them like a lid. The water underneath keeps moving, shaded from the Central Valley sun. The electricity goes to farms and homes on either side, which was the whole plan. The second result was not planned at all. It is ... Read more