[toomuchtodo]

This is a non issue. Rooftops alone are enough to power the US with solar, versus prime land. With that said, there is enormous potential in the roofs yet to have solar installed, parking lots with solar canopies, marginal land, floating PV systems at reservoirs, etc. Land is not an issue. At this rate, we’re constrained by pv module costs, deal flow, permitting, and install labor (a combination of labor and soft costs, essentially, with a healthy dose of supply chain issues).

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/10/11/solar-deployed-on-roo...

[dillondoyle]

Having PV above water is something we should do immediately.

As this article points out it seems to help with evaporation and evaporation is a big deal [1]

water out here and heading south just sits in concrete canals waiting to be flooded inefficiently onto crop land. but using way better irrigation is another topic.

[1] https://www.circleofblue.org/2013/world/report-evaporation-f...

[prawn]

There was a story on HN the other month about solar panels above irrigation canals in India. Something like this: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200803-the-solar-canals...

[dillondoyle]

Love it. I also remember one a long time ago about filling a reservoir with floating balls. But solar does two things at once.