KU environmental law expert part of research team working to place solar arrays over thousands of miles of California canals

LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas professor and environmental law expert is part of an innovative partnership among seven universities to develop solar energy arrays over thousands of miles of canal network in California. The California Solar Canal Initiative is working to develop solar panels over the state’s canals to generate renewable energy, save water and conserve land throughout the state.

Robin Kundis Craig, Robert A. Schroeder Distinguished Professor at KU Law, is part of the initiative and will provide expertise on water law, land use, the intersection of federal and state laws regarding water, zoning, regulations on solar installation and related issues. Her research focuses on all things water, including the intersection of land and water issues, climate change and water, ocean and coastal law, the Clean Water Act and the relationships between environmental law and public health.

Led by the University of Southern California Dornsife Public Exchange and independent adviser Solar AquaGrid, the California Solar Canal Initiative will work closely with state agencies responsible for water and land, the California Department of Water Resources and California Natural Resource Agency. The researchers will evaluate the potential of placing solar panels over thousands of miles of the state’s canals to:

• Address the needs of a rapidly changing energy market.
• Through co-benefits, be economically competitive with other distributed-solar projects.
• Enhance current canal operations and maintenance procedures.
• Navigate existing water and land regulations.
• Provide numerous benefits to communities where projects are developed.

The initiative is led by a multidisciplinary research team from USC, the University of California Merced, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC Law San Francisco, San Jose State University and KU. A 2021 study from UC Merced estimated covering all 4,000 miles of California’s canals with solar panels could generate enough electricity to power 10 million homes, conserve enough water to supply up to 2 million homes annually and reduce land use by placing solar arrays on already developed land.

The project has potential significant benefits for energy, land use and native species as well as farms and communities throughout the state.

“On the energy side, installing solar panels over existing water canals could avoid some hassles that come with installing solar arrays over open land. The canals are already there, so the projects don't disturb undisturbed land,” Craig said. “Species issues are likely to be less, again because the project is unlikely to disturb existing habitat. There might also be advantages with more distributed generation that might be able to benefit multiple local communities. On the water side, the loss of water through evaporation from these open canals flowing through the desert is significant. If the solar panels can block even a part of that evaporation, the water savings could make a real difference for many farms and communities in California.”

The UC Merced study also found placing canals over significant portions of canals could carry benefits beyond power and water, including conserving up to 50,000 acres of land and habitat by placing solar arrays over existing infrastructure, improving water quality and lowering maintenance costs by shading the canals, enhancing efficiency of solar panels by the cooling effect of water below and creating local jobs to install and maintain the systems.

The California Solar Canal Initiative research is guided by an advisory council of experts from government, academia and the private sector to ensure its outcomes are actionable. Craig, who has written, co-written or edited more than 12 books and more than 100 law review articles on water, environmental and law topics, said she is excited about the interdisciplinary project’s potential for California and beyond.

“This is a different infrastructure model than traditional commercial scale solar energy facilities. For places with lots of water canals, it may provide a more flexible model for installing solar that, depending on circumstances, could reduce both the land footprint and the hassles of installing huge new transmission lines,” Craig said. “This has been an amazing interdisciplinary and multi-university team of researchers to work with, and I commend Project Nexus at USC for pulling it together.”