Thread

What California is learning from solar panels built over irrigation canals

372 points · 744 comments · Jtsummers

nbf_1995 · 1790086541 · focus · HN ↗
It seems like it would be more effective to simply put all the solar panels in a field, and construct a cheap shade over the entire canal no? The supports in the picture are massive and don't look cheap. Also I would imagine the solar array uses more copper than a similar capacity array just built in a field. You can't daisy chain multiple miles of solar panels together, so you need an extra power line to run alongside the whole thing.
Put the solar panels in a field: The solar array uses less copper. The shade supports don't have to hold up solar panels: Shade supports cost less.
The best reasoning they give is that California has insane permitting requirements, and it takes 1/6 the time to build on developed land compared to undeveloped land.
1. schnevets · 1790111056 · focus · HN ↗
  Anecdotally speaking, I have heard of a massive California solar farm in an undeveloped area that has serious vandalism problems. Junkies will find ways through the fencing at night, strip copper and other materials from panels, and cause thousands in damages and lost energy just to extract enough scrap for a fix.
  Nothing short of a face-to-face security response will deter these criminals, so there it is a challenging cost-benefit balance. At least panels in parking lots and other developed spaces have the benefit of witnesses. I'm sure a 20 foot climb up a steel beam over running water is a decent deterrent as well.
  1. swiftcoder · 1790149813 · focus · HN ↗
    > Junkies will find ways through the fencing at night, strip copper and other materials from panels, and cause thousands in damages and lost energy just to extract enough scrap for a fix
    I live in a European country, where the phone company hasn't bothered to come remove the old unused copper phone lines in the last 5 years. Thousands of dollars worth of cables running past my house alone, and no one has bothered to go strip it in the night and sell it
    This feels like one of those USA problems that would be better addressed by funding decent social services (free healthcare, cheap housing, addiction treatment programs, etc).
    trollbridge · 1790162831 · focus · HN ↗
    California already has those social services; that doesn’t stop antisocial people from doing antisocial things. A tiny fraction of people can cause a lot of damage.
    There is a part of California that still has ancient telegraph lines complete with weathered copper with the blueish colour. Nobody has come by to scrap it yet. So it’s really a matter of proximity to wherever antisocial people choose to live.
    someonebaggy · 1790170517 · focus · HN ↗
    California claims to have those social services. Does it actually, or are they impossible to actually get?
    mikeryan · 1790180097 · focus · HN ↗
    We do, but they tend to be clustered around urban areas. There’s vast swaths of CA that lean much more conservative and more economically challenged that are under served.
    I think a lot of people don’t realize you can go 2-2.5 hours out side of SF and be in CA MAGA country.
    autoexec · 1790204867 · focus · HN ↗
    California is teeming with homelessness, whatever they call "cheap housing" isn't helping. They have the highest poverty rate in the nation (or close to it <a href="https://www.ktvu.com/news/california-has-highest-poverty-rate-nation-tied-louisiana" rel="nofollow">https://www.ktvu.com/news/california-has-highest-poverty-rat...). Nearly half of California's population can't afford even the basic costs of living and millions struggle to afford food (<a href="https://www.kcra.com/article/new-hunger-research-shows-millions-of-californians-struggling-to-afford-food/71351065" rel="nofollow">https://www.kcra.com/article/new-hunger-research-shows-milli...) so while the state has done well in some areas (health care coverage for example) you can be sure that there are plenty of very desperate people who might end up resorting to crime in order to meet their basic needs.
    Forgeties79 · 1790210879 · focus · HN ↗
    It’s a small nation and frankly most of its “bad” numbers aren’t far off parity with the nation as a whole.
    autoexec · 1790213733 · focus · HN ↗
    If anywhere near half the people in America can't afford to cover their basic needs now we're in for a very dark future.
    Forgeties79 · 1790214726 · focus · HN ↗
    I’m assuming you’re referring to the article you linked.
    40% is not “near half” - it’s closer to 1/3rd than it is half, and I think we would both (rightfully) object to me saying “near 1/3rd.”
    Also, that 40% figure is based on their own definition, not something that is broadly accepted.

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