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Lupicia t1_jc8ooch wrote

Reply to comment by thormun in Researchers: Floating solar panels could provide over a third of global electricity by TurretLauncher

Proposal is for on top of man-made water reservoirs, slowing evaporation. No fishies harmed.

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TK-741 t1_jc8w125 wrote

Could be super effective if they’re designed with multiple benefits in mind. I feel like I’ve read about mussels farmed from dangling ropes on fixed and floating infrastructure somewhere…

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OpenLinez t1_jc99vlw wrote

Many of these already in use on smaller reservoirs. They prevent a lot of evaporation, very helpful in the sunbelt states where everybody lives.

A pilot program over a major California aqueduct is in progress right now.

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tommybot t1_jca9hfl wrote

Going to Google but do you have any links on the subject?

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gregguygood t1_jc975x3 wrote

I doubt that there is enough man-made water reservoirs to make a third of power needed.

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KanyeNeweyWest t1_jca8his wrote

I was curious (and didn't have a prior), but the answer appears to be yes. I found the largest man-made reservoirs on Wikipedia: the largest 100 manmade reservoirs in the US have about 8500 sq mi of surface area. Assuming 15% efficiency you'd need something like 20,000 square miles of solar installation to power the US based on this Dept of Energy document: Link.

More interestingly, the largest 25 reservoirs in the US have just under 5000 sq mi of surface area.

Many of these reservoirs are in places that don't receive full sun of course. But I think people underestimate just how large some bodies of water are. An area the size of, say, Lake Erie would be sufficient to provide solar power for almost all of the US with full sun - less than 1% of land area in the contiguous US. The federal government owns about 40 times that much land already, much of it in places that are ideal for solar.

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ctothel t1_jca9bwx wrote

So panels on reservoirs alone would provide up to 42% of the entire US power requirement. Obviously the real number would be much lower but that’s still astoundingly good.

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UUDDLRLRBAstard t1_jcbfrjy wrote

If you’re aiming for full replacement, perhaps. But as a partial replacement solution it works. A third of power coming from the sun is a significant transition.

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Demiansky t1_jc9v6n7 wrote

Yep, so dam lakes that are used as gravity batteries could be refilled via the solar panels which then pump eater back in.

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tjcanno t1_jca9m24 wrote

I live near a large man made reservoir (lake) with a dam and hydroelectric power generating. It is full of fish. It’s not a big concrete lined swimming pool. It absolutely would suffer if a large percentage of lake had light blocked out.

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twinpac t1_jcb3izd wrote

Uhh man made reservoirs are made by damming natural rivers or lakes. There are not many man made reservoirs that don't contain some kind of aquatic life.

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georgecm12 t1_jcbx4hr wrote

There are lots of commercial developments that have storm water reservoirs to prevent flooding and prevent the water treatment system from being overloaded.

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psyon t1_jcak93e wrote

If the reservoir was made by damming a river, then the harn has already been done.

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loki1337 t1_jcan91b wrote

That does seem better than subjecting them to the oceans varying conditions

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spam__likely t1_jc8xbs8 wrote

water quality could decrease. light is important for a bunch of stuff. but a balance could be found.

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JeffreyDawmer t1_jc99zr7 wrote

Nah. They currently use half-submerged black plastic spheres to block sunlight from reservoirs. It prevents radical bromine creation as a result of electromagnetic stimulation.

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