It\u2019s blustery and warm on Wright\u2019s Mesa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Siobhan Montoya Lavender stands outside the Norwood Water Commission\u2019s Reservoir No. 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLast year, the Norwood Water Commission reached out to EcoAction Partners to say, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re having all these evaporation issues. We\u2019re having algae blooms that are expensive to treat. We have really high electric bills. We\u2019ve looked into this very shallowly and we\u2019ve said maybe floating solar is an option. Could you research more and tell us more?\u2019\u201d Lavender said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lavender, the climate action development director for EcoAction \u2014 a regional climate solutions nonprofit \u2014 said it was an immediate yes. She began researching grant opportunities for a feasibility study to determine whether floating solar, or floatovoltaics, would be possible on the reservoir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was one problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll the grants that I would normally go after for this dried up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EcoAction got creative and reached out to the Colorado School of Mines and its senior capstone program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is how seven graduating seniors from Golden ended up in Norwood to conduct the feasibility study under the guidance of their professors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey will be doing all these wonderful studies and engineering specifications for us basically pro bono,\u201d Lavender said. \u201cThis is something that would normally cost the town $40,000 to $50,000.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grace Flanagan, one of the students, is studying environmental engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s basically an experience for us to get hands-on, real-world experience that you wouldn\u2019t get in the classroom,\u201d Flanagan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The students dispersed around the reservoir. Some collected measurements of the pond while Flanagan slid down the bank to test the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing a bit of field measurements and simulations on the computer to see how much electricity we could generate from the solar panels, try and estimate how much reduction in evaporation we could get,\u201d Flanagan said. \u201cAlso, we\u2019re taking some baseline water quality data so we can make sure there isn\u2019t going to be leaching, because we know one of the community concerns was metal leaching. So we\u2019re testing for metals. The team over there is doing site analysis to make sure we can model the site to get a good idea of the dimensions and sizing, because each panel gets a float. We also have to design an anchor system so the solar panels won\u2019t move around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walter Sharp, a technical adviser on the project, said there are two primary benefits of the solar panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first is reducing algae blooms on the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s blocking the sunlight,\u201d Sharp said. \u201cAlgae grows on photosynthesis, which is based on sunlight. So if there\u2019s no sunlight, there\u2019s no growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second benefit is reducing evaporation from the reservoir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe panels are only about two feet off the water,\u201d Sharp said. \u201cAny humidity that occurs is going to keep the water temperature cooler in that region. Evaporation is based on heat and wind, so if you lower the temperature and you lower the wind, you lower the evaporation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the project uses solar panels, the panels themselves are at a low slope and are not ideal for energy production. Lavender said the project is primarily a water conservation effort, with the added benefit of energy generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Sara Ownes, Norwood\u2019s town manager, anything that offsets water loss using proactive measures is a win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in a 50-year drought, and we\u2019re going into an even worse drought season this year,\u201d Ownes said. \u201cSo as proactive as we can be, from the town side of things, to set ourselves up for safety, to be able to continue to offer water to everybody, as well as be able to mitigate fires, is priority No. 1, quite honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back by the water, Flanagan checked measurements. As her senior capstone project, she was drawn to the science, but the work is also personal. Flanagan grew up in a small town in Maryland where the water was contaminated, and her family has relied on bottled water for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was really cool how I could give back to a community in the sense of making the water better and more treatable for the community,\u201d Flanagan said. \u201cEspecially as there\u2019s a lot of water scarcity, it\u2019s nice to see that I could do something to reduce that impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The feasibility study is just the first step toward potentially bringing floatovoltaics to the Norwood reservoir. But it is an important step as the town looks ahead, takes its future into its own hands and continues to adapt to a changing water landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Norwood is teaming up with EcoAction Partners and the Colorado School of Mines to explore floatovoltaics – floating solar panels – to reduce evaporation, prevent algae blooms, and generate renewable energy.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":10517,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-category":[514,542],"news-tag":[],"class_list":["post-10516","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-category-featured-stories","news-category-rural-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n