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).
    Dig1t · 1790188703 · focus · HN ↗
    The USA has gone from 90% white -> 50% in one generation. Social trust is rapidly declining as a result. Just like South Africa, which is the global epicenter of low-trust crimes like copper theft, we are seeing a rise in these types of crimes.
    <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/2025/05/08/americans-trust-in-one-another/" rel="nofollow">https://www.pewresearch.org/2025/05/08/americans-trust-in-on...
    The poorest Americans do actually have free healthcare (medicaid). It currently covers 40% of all children in the US and generally covers the bottom 25% of Americans. In places like California and New York the state level benefits are even better and apply regardless of immigration status (illegals get free healthcare).
    Free addiction care: <a href="https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/free" rel="nofollow">https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/free
    Most Americans live in a state that has excellent free addiction care, especially in the major population centers like California and New York.
    Housing via emergency housing and subsidized section 8 housing:
    <a href="https://www.usa.gov/emergency-housing" rel="nofollow">https://www.usa.gov/emergency-housing
    <a href="https://www.hud.gov/helping-americans/housing-choice-vouchers-tenants" rel="nofollow">https://www.hud.gov/helping-americans/housing-choice-voucher...
    Heck they even get free/cheap subsidized cell phones and internet service: <a href="https://www.lifelinesupport.org/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lifelinesupport.org/
    swiftcoder · 1790191963 · focus · HN ↗
    > The USA has gone from 90% white -> 50% in one generation.
    This is factually incorrect. The USA hasn't been "90% white" since the 1950s (and even then, you have to count hispanic as white to make the numbers work). It is also still >50% white by pretty much any definition (the 50% claim is based only on children under 18, and requires excluding hispanic from the category).
    That is, if I'm being incredibly generous, 75 years (nearly 4 generations) to go from ~90% to ~50%. Not one generation.

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