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This artist’s rendering provided by Solar AquaGrid, shows a wide-span solar canal canopy being piloted in California’s Central Valley. Solar AquaGrid is preparing to break ground in the fall of 2023 on the first solar-covered-canal project in the United States. Solar panels are installed over canals in sunny, water-scarce regions where they make electricity and reduce evaporation. (Solar AquaGrid via AP)

FILE – Indian laborers work amid installed solar panels atop the Narmada canal at Chandrasan village, outside Ahmadabad, India, Feb. 16, 2012. The project brings water to hundreds of thousands of villages in the dry, arid regions of western India’s Gujarat state. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)

FILE – A worker washes his hands as installed solar panels are visible atop the Narmada canal at Chandrasan village, outside of Ahmadabad, India, Feb. 16, 2012. The project brings water to hundreds of thousands of villages in the dry, arid regions of western India’s Gujarat state. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)

BY BRITTANY PETERSON AND SIBI ARASUPublished 11:27 PM GMT+7, July 20, 2023

DENVER (AP) — Back in 2015, California’s dry earth was crunching under a fourth year of drought. Then-Governor Jerry Brown ordered an unprecedented 25% reduction in home water use. Farmers, who use the most water, volunteered too to avoid deeper, mandatory cuts.

Brown also set a goal for the state to get half its energy from renewable sources, with climate change bearing down.

Yet when Jordan Harris and Robin Raj went knocking on doors with an idea that addresses both water loss and climate pollution — installing solar panels over irrigation canals — they couldn’t get anyone to commit.

By Dat Nguyen   October 10, 2020 | 08:00 am GMT+7 VNExpressAn artist’s impression of a 257MW solar power plant backed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the central province of Phu Yen. Photo courtesy of the ADB.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is leading a group of lenders to provide $186 million for the development of a solar power plant in the central province of Phu Yen.

The financing comprises a $27.9 million loan from the ADB, a $148.8 million syndicated loan funded by commercial banks with ADB as Lender of Record, and a $9.3 million loan provided by the Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP).

The loan will fund a 257-megawatt power plant in Phu Hoa District. The plant will be the largest single operating solar power plant in Vietnam and one of the largest in Southeast Asia, the ADB said in a statement.

It will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions every year by 123,000 tons while directly serving the electricity demand of Quang Ngai Province and Nha Trang Town in central Vietnam as well as surrounding areas.

By Anh Minh   August 26, 2020 | 11:57 am GMT+7 vnexpressWorkers install solar power panels on a rooftop in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo courtesy of Vietnam Electricity.

Over 45,000 households and organizations in the country have installed rooftop solar panels, whose prices have been falling rapidly in recent years.

Le Anh Tuan, lecturer at Can Tho University in southern Can Tho City, spent VND130 million ($5,600) to install a 3.9 kWp rooftop solar power system in his home four years ago and is now enjoying the fruits of his investment.

Tuan was able to save up to VND1.2 million each month compared to using normal electricity, twice the amount of monthly deposit interests.