Floating Solar Panels Coming to the Cohoes Reservoir
I've been looking into solar energy lately. I've been thinking about putting solar panels on top of my garage to power my shop and our house. Currently, we get about half of the electricity that we use from local solar farms. It has saved us money on our electricity bill and is good for the environment.
According to News 10, the town of Cohoes has taken the solar power game to the next level with a proposed floating solar panel array that will be floating on top of the Cohoes reservoir.
The idea is to cover about 2/3rds of the reservoir with solar panels and that would provide enough solar energy to power all of the Cohoes government buildings. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory claims that if solar panels were floated on all of the country's 24,000 man-made reservoirs it would make enough solar electricity to cover 10% of the countries needs.
According to Joe Seman-Graves, Cohoes City Planner, the panels will be anchored to the shore and are really durable. You can walk on them, they are wind and weather resistant and should give years of reliable solar energy.
The project will cost about $6 million and Cohoes is hoping to get federal funding to help cover a majority of the cost for the panels and insulation. Cohoes city officials hope the project will be started sometime next year.
This idea of using floating solar panels on lakes, oceans, and reservoirs has been implemented in China and the results have been very positive.
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