90. 'Diving Into Project Nexus And Floating Solar' With Josh Weimer Of TID

Every so often, we hear about breakthroughs taking place in the laboratory setting or academic papers that highlight the type of program that has the power to transform the utility sector, and they get touted and shared in headlines, social media, and elsewhere. Too often, though, it seems the story ends there: the practical application falls apart when put up to scrutiny, the economics of putting them into place creates hurdles not previously foreseen, or they otherwise suffer from being more hype than reality. But that outcome doesn't always need to be the case, and in the current rush to enhance the energy transition towards more clean energy resources we need all the buy in we can get. That was the perspective of Turlock Irrigation District (TID) when the utility became aware of broad proclamations from an academic study on the possibilities tied to installing floating solar panels on the nation's canal systems. While the study was theoretical, TID recognized that they had the type of canal system in their assets and the energy needs across their service area to be perfectly aligned to put the conclusions of this study to the test, and so that's what they did. In this episode of the podcast, TID's External Affairs Department Manager, Josh Weimer, joins podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester to chat about what ultimately became known as Project Nexus and how and why the utility was eager to be the first to pilot this high potential project. Key Links: Josh Weimer's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/josh-weimer Energy Central Post with Full Episode Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-90-diving-project-nexus-and-floating-solar-josh-weimer-turlock-irrigation Link to Create Your Own Profile on Energy Central: energycentral.com/user/register More information on Project Nexus: https://www.tid.org/about-tid/current-projects/project-nexus/ TID Water & Power Podcast on Project Nexus: https://tidpodcast.buzzsprout.com/1542562/10214969 2021 UC Merced Study: https://escholarship.org/content/qt8cj5j07p/qt8cj5j07p.pdf Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts