CSDA staff recently had the opportunity to participate in the California-United Water Conference Silicon Valley Tour. The tour was organized to bring together leaders, share best practices and introduce Project Nexus. Tour sites included the Silicon Valley Wastewater Treatment Plant, Google Campus at Bay View Drive, and Valley Water’s Purified Water Facility.
Major sponsors included Mountain County Water Resources Association, Urban Water Institute, Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA), Valley Water District, and Mesa Water District.
A significant portion of the conference centered around Project Nexus, a public-private academic partnership that combines water and energy integration for the future. Partners include Turlock Irrigation District, the state’s Department of Water Resources, UC Merced, and Solar AguaGrid, a project development firm. Project Nexus is the first in the nation to combine canals with solar panels, rethinking utility corridors and addressing water insecurity. The goal is for cost savings and energy efficiency to converge.
Project Nexus began in 2015 to conserve water in an age of historic drought. Covering exposed canals with solar canopies provides multiple benefits including reduced evaporation, clean energy production, and land conservation. Currently, canals and aqueducts are losing water due to evaporation. Solar panels could help to put a lid on evaporative loss. Additionally, using existing aqueducts in utility corridors cuts down on execution time because the land has already been approved for development.
A 2021 UC Merced study demonstrated that covering all of the roughly 4,000 miles of public water delivery system infrastructure in California with solar panels could result in significant water, energy and cost savings for California. The study predicts a savings of 63 billion gallons of water annually - enough to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland or meet the residential water needs of more than 2 million people. The study also found the 13 gigawatts of solar power the panels would generate each year would equal about one sixth of the state’s current installed capacity.
Dr. Roger Bales with UC Merced discussed the current project sites, which are along existing canals in Stanislaus County owned by the Turlock Irrigation District (TID) - the oldest irrigation district in the state. TID was chosen to host the projects because the district provides both irrigation and power to its residents. Currently, there are two locations for the TID projects. One project site is in Ceres (where they will also be testing floating solar) and the other is Southeast of Modesto, along the Main Canal (where they will also be testing battery storage).
With major funding from the CA Department of Water Resources and with Solar AquaGrid serving as the project developer/program manager, the key project goals will be water conservation, energy efficiency, land purchase/conservation, operation maintenance (weeds), avian response from birds interacting with solar panels, climate/emissions, air quality, and jobs/economic development.
In addition to the Project Nexus presentation, the conference included touring several Silicon Valley water treatment project sites.
Silicon Valley Clean Water: Wastewater Treatment Plant
At the Silicon Valley Clean Water Treatment Plant, attendees toured the facility and learned about the complex systems involved in wastewater treatment. The plant serves over 220,000 people and businesses in the area. It was built to treat wastewater through an advanced multi-step process that includes physical, chemical and biological interactions. The process is important to keeping the San Francisco Bay environmentally clean and safe for aquatic life. By the end of the process, more than 97% of all solids and organic material and 100% of pathogens have been removed from the wastewater.
Google Campus: Tour of Campus and Central Recycled Water Plant
Google staff provided attendees with a tour of Google’s Bay View Campus, which is the first office complex designed by Google and features an array of environmentally sustainable amenities. The campus includes an all-electric, net water positive system with the largest geothermal installation in North America. The integrated geothermal pile system helps heat and cool the campus all day and is integrated into the structural system, reducing the amount of water typically used for cooling by 90% (about five million gallons of water annually).
Santa Clara Valley Water District: Purified Water Facility
Valley Water has been investing in local reliable, sustainable, and efficient water supplies to address water supply challenges such as drought and population growth. These investments include increasing recycled and purified water supplies. By 2025, the district hopes to have developed recycled and purified water to provide for at least 10% of Santa Clara County. The highly purified water will be available for potable use to help offset future droughts and water supply issues. The goal is to produce 8 billion gallons of a year, which will serve 74,000 households in Silicon Valley every year. Valley Water staff gave attendees an overview of the facility and provided a close-up view of their operating systems.
CSDA thanks all the tour sponsors and hosts for providing such an educational and interactive opportunity to learn more about Project Nexus and water systems in Silicon Valley.
#AdvocacyNews
#ClimateAdaptation
#Water
#RenewableEnergy
#FeatureNews