New study shows federally controlled reservoirs could host enough energy to power approximately 100 million US homes a year.
New study shows federally controlled reservoirs could host enough energy to power approximately 100 million US homes a year.
Federal reservoirs could help meet the country’s solar energy needs, according to a new study published in Solar Energy.
For the study, Evan Rosenlieb and Marie Rivers, geospatial scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), as well as Aaron Levine, a senior legal and regulatory analyst at NREL, quantified for the first time exactly how much energy could be generated from floating solar panel projects installed on federally owned or regulated reservoirs. (Developers can find specific details for each reservoir on the website AquaPV.)
And the potential is surprisingly large: Reservoirs could host enough floating solar panels to generate up to 1,476 terawatt hours, or enough energy to power approximately 100 million homes a year.
Read more at DOE/National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Photo Credit: andreas160578 via Pixabay
