ESS Deploys Long-Duration Storage with Turlock Irrigation District
Innovative project combines ESS’ long-duration energy storage with solar canal canopies to provide dispatchable clean energy and reduce evaporative water loss.
Project drives decarbonization and water conservation
ESS’ Energy Warehouses will be paired with the first-ever installation of solar panels over irrigation canals in the United States. Project Nexus aims to generate clean energy while conserving water resources in an increasingly arid California.
This project addresses multiple climate challenges at once and is the kind of innovative approach that will build a climate-resilient future. We look forward to delivering a solution that can be replicated across California and other drought-prone areas.
“Long-duration energy storage is the key that will enable Project Nexus to not only conserve water and generate renewable energy, but provide on-demand, clean power 24/7.”
– Hugh McDermott, ESS senior vice president
Turlock Irrigation District’s Project Nexus
TID’s Project Nexus will serve as a Proof of Concept to pilot and further study solar over canal design, deployment, and co-benefits on behalf of the State of California using TID infrastructure and electrical grid access.
About Turlock Irrigation District
Since our formation as the first irrigation district in California, we are driven by our mission to provide reliable and competitively priced irrigation water and electric service, while being good stewards of our resources and providing a high level of customer satisfaction.
Study estimates that covering California’s canals with solar panels could generate enough energy to power LA for most of the year
The study estimates that 63 billion gallons of water could be saved by covering California‘s 6,437 kilometres of canals with solar panels that could also generate 13 gigawatts of power. That’s enough for the entire city of Los Angeles from January through early October.
US’s first solar panels over canals pilot will deploy iron flow batteries
Project Nexus is a $20 million pilot in California’s Turlock Irrigation District that launched in October of last year. The project team is exploring solar over canal design, deployment, and co-benefits using canal infrastructure and the electrical grid.
This state is using a revolutionary solution to protect itself from droughts – and the results could be staggering
The study estimates a savings of 63 billion gallons of water annually. The $20 million smart solar panel project, dubbed Project Nexus, is being built over three sections of Turlock Irrigation District (TID) canals, located about 90 miles southeast of Sacramento.