In Hickman, California, the Turlock Irrigation District has installed solar panels spanning sections of its irrigation canals as part of a pilot called Project Nexus. The project, inspired partly by tree-shaded canals Jordan Harris observed in France, aims to generate renewable electricity while shading the water from evaporation. UC Davis researchers project California's water supply could shrink up to 25% by 2050 due to climate-driven heat.
kqed.org
· 2026-09-22
Startup Resilience Energy is installing solar panels and battery systems at no cost to homeowners, then aggregating that distributed capacity to sell electricity back to the grid during periods of peak demand. The approach sidesteps the years-long permitting and interconnection delays that typically slow construction of utility-scale solar farms.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-14
Tesla halted supply of its Solar Roof tiles in August, telling certified installers it would only ship standard solar panels going forward. Contractors say they spent weeks in specialized training and completed supervised installations to become certified, only to be left with sunk costs once Tesla pulled the product after roughly 3,000 total US installations over seven years.
electrek.co
· 2026-09-07
Consumer-grade solar kits that plug directly into a standard wall outlet, long popular in Europe as balcony solar, are gaining traction in the US. These systems pair a few small panels with a microinverter that feeds power into the home's electrical circuit, with an optional battery to store excess energy for use at night or during outages.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-06
Solar cells are rated at 25°C (77°F) under standardized test conditions, but that figure doesn't represent an outdoor sweet spot for peak output. In practice, panels become less efficient as temperatures rise because voltage drops faster than current increases with heat, meaning cooler conditions technically yield higher efficiency.
engadget.com
· 2026-08-24
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