WATCH: Solar-over-canal project announced in Merced County
LOS BANOS, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – What’s being billed as the largest investment in climate resilience in the nation’s history was unveiled in Los Banos on Thursday.
According to the Bureau of Reclamation, the $15 million investment will provide “much-needed resources to enhance Western communities’ resilience to drought and climate change” and will see solar panels placed over the Delta-Mendota Canal to study water efficiency gains and the amount of clean energy produced for future larger-scale implementation.
UC Merced wants to put solar panels over canals
California Governor Gavin Newsom also spoke at the announcement, describing the solar-over-canal project along one of the state’s primary aqueducts as long overdue.
Funding for the project is coming from President Biden’s Investment in America Agenda, which includes $19.5 million for water projects in California, Oregon, and Utah.
You can watch the announcement as it happened in the video player above.
