It has become a tourist spot. A lot of people go there and get their selfies.
It is very impressive and we feel very proud.
The emissions are matter of concern, pollution is a matter of concern.
I'm staying in New Delhi, I know, we feel it.
We wanted to do something very special with the solar and water combined.
If you see all the canals, all across India, there's huge potential.
It is energy for development that is going to drive a sustainable global shift at scale.
How do you use clean and sustainable energy to provide jobs?
Energy for agriculture productivity, energy for adaptation. Solar rooftops on canals in India is a really good example for
what can be done in California, what can be done in Lagos, in Sri Lanka.
We're going to have to install a lot of solar panels
and so where you place the solar panels really matters.
Even though it's not the lowest construction cost
for developing solar power, as we transform our infrastructure and economy to renewable energy
we can bring a lot of other benefits along with that.
If you were going to put solar on your own property,
you wouldn't put it in your backyard, you'd probably put it on your roof.
We really need to start with already disturbed land before we look at prime agriculture and areas for conservation.
By setting up on the canal we have saved approximately 25 acres of fertile land.
Severe droughts over the past 20 to 30 years have contributed to dried up wells and massive wildfires
that we're fighting in California.
When we cover the canals that keeps the wind off the canal
and that keeps the sun off the canal, meaning we basically eliminate the evaporation.
It's a cooler microclimate, so you get a few percent better efficiency on the electricity production.
We didn't really look into the impacts on wildlife.
We've contacted colleagues who have done research on birds around aqueducts and solar fields
and they're totally supportive of putting the solar over canals, but it is important enough to still keep looking at it.
Everybody's on board with climate solutions,
it's just more a question of who pays for it and how do we get there.
We're facing the grand challenge of climate change, drought and biodiversity threats
and that's why i'm so excited about working on this project, it's because it's something that gives me hope.