Repurposing reservoirs

[Avanti]

Study suggests reservoirs can be repurposed to support floating solar panels. Enough to provide all the clean energy needed. Additionally, covering reservoirs greatly reduces evaporation losses. Since the reservoirs already exist, no more land would be required to meet our clean energy needs.

https://news.google.com/articles/CBM...S&ceid=US%3Aen

[Bronzefly]

I'm sure there is an endangered algae somewhere that will stop all of that nonsense.

[Mcjenson]

You notice an environmental engineer, not an electrical engineer, was behind this study. The sheer complexity and costs make this project make next to zero sense. Why not expand reservoirs, or god forbid make more nuclear facilities.

[LewStulePH.D.]

I'm sure there is an endangered algae somewhere that will stop all of that nonsense.

Not until a few Mill$ is flung in that area for an "Impact study™".. Oh look, the politico™ whose idea it was has a cousin who does impact studies, but with the new ESG™ it'll be 30-35 years before it happens. Heck, the industrial strength RoundUp™ THEY™ squirt in our waterways will still be killing that algae, my celebrated colleague mentioned in Post #2.

Now the optimist in me thinks it makes 'perfect sense' and NOT enough ¢ so to paraphrase those drunks on the hill at Kitty Hawk "That'll never fly..."
You're forgetting we've taken a LEFT TURN into Clown World/Bizarro World/Upside Down World it only depends on which 'dimension' You're 'stuck in'

[CDN Bass]

I'm sure there is an endangered algae somewhere that will stop all of that nonsense.

There will be.

https://www.boredpanda.com/biodegrad...mpaign=organic

[Dixie-Raven]

Why stop at reservoirs, Great Lakes and Oceans worth of space out there!

[Drahts]

Ok so we cover the reservoirs in solar panels. Most reservoirs are for drinking water. SO now the sun can't get in, so all life dies, water goes stagnant and people don't have drinking water anymore. But you can charge your EV! Course then there are the Millions of folks who get countless hours of vacation and R&R from the reservoirs and lakes who can no longer cope with life, and take it out on the green energy folk and politicians!

[Bueller]

You notice an environmental engineer, not an electrical engineer, was behind this study. The sheer complexity and costs make this project make next to zero sense. Why not expand reservoirs, or god forbid make more nuclear facilities.

There is the added complexity of having a transmission line in close proximity, but many reservoirs already have that because of the hydro power. Engineering solutions either exist or would be designed for the flotation aspect, making this not much different than utility scale ground installed infrastructure. Overall project costs might even be less because there’s no land to purchase.

That said, do I think this will get done in the next 20 years? Probably not, but it’s not because of complexity or cost. It’ll be more permitting and environmental roadblocks.

[tcesni]

The concept of covering the surface of a reservoir with floating balls to reduce evaporative losses has already been demonstrated as a viable concept. It does eliminate recreation use though.

[Dixie-Raven]

Wave machines converting waves into electrical power is already in development. To me this would make more sense. No matter the technology I don't think the premise is to cover the entire surface of the body of water but instead have grids of area dedicated to it's use.

[Mcjenson]

There is the added complexity of having a transmission line in close proximity, but many reservoirs already have that because of the hydro power. Engineering solutions either exist or would be designed for the flotation aspect, making this not much different than utility scale ground installed infrastructure. Overall project costs might even be less because there’s no land to purchase.

That said, do I think this will get done in the next 20 years? Probably not, but it’s not because of complexity or cost. It’ll be more permitting and environmental roadblocks.

I think the environmental impact studies involving water would wipe out land purchase costs pretty quickly. Not to mention the need for inverters to convert the solar output to useable transmission voltages.

This reminds me of the pie in the sky, “make the roads solar panels”. You can make the ideas make sense in theory, but once you get in the real world I don’t see it working out very well.

[Jeff Hahn]

One of the dumbest ideas that I’ve seen in a long, long time.

[AggieBass]

If you take the emotion and politics out of the decision-making process, nuclear is the way to go. I might argue it is the only way to go for the vast majority of the civilized world. All of the "scary things" associated with nuclear power plants can be easily mitigated with current technology. The biggest negative, in my humble opinion, is with countries like Iran and North Korea that will use the spent fuel to build weapons.

[berudd]

And shade out all the plant life in the lake therefore crashing the ecosystem and killing all the life in the reservoir. Genius!

[Bronzefly]

You're forgetting we've taken a LEFT TURN into Clown World/Bizarro World/Upside Down World it only depends on which 'dimension' You're 'stuck in'

I'm certainly not forgetting those interesting concepts, but then again, I haven't been puffing on Florida's finest and I am well hydrated too

[Robby Moser]

Would love to see those solar panels withstand a few big waves from the wind,as well as a few angry yachtsmen sending BIG rollers and sinking them to the bottom,putting brush piles to shame.

[bassfisher444]

I certainly don't want to look at a bunch of solar panels while I am on the water fishing.

[TXAGGIE]

If we really want to do solar, which isn't something I'm certain we need to do, the government should incentivize covering roofs of big commercial buildings and parking lots at major retail developments with solar panels. You don't take good farm/ranch land out of production and there's the fringe benefit of getting into a cool car in the summer time.


https://corporate.target.com/article...net-zero-store

[bassfisher444]

If we really want to do solar, which isn't something I'm certain we need to do, the government should incentivize covering roofs of big commercial buildings and parking lots at major retail developments with solar panels. You don't take good farm/ranch land out of production and there's the fringe benefit of getting into a cool car in the summer time.


https://corporate.target.com/article...net-zero-store

More wasted money and a failure in the end just like all government incentives.

[T. Hill]

It begs government subsidies.