Tell your state leaders to lead on building floating solar for America!

South Korea recently switched on their largest-yet floating solar project at Ihma Dam in Gyeongsangbuk-do province, with 47.2 MW of solar capacity arranged in 16 structures designed to resemble the Taegukgi national flag and Mugunghwa national flower! It will generate 61 GWh of clean power per year, enough for 22,000 Korean homes. Notably, this project is also an early trial of the visionary UBI-like “Sunlight Pension” model championed by newly elected President Lee Jae-myung. 4,500 local residents from 33 nearby villages have invested in this floating solar project and will receive a share of its profits as regular income.

In China, a 1.8 GW (1,800 MW) offshore solar project is being built in the Bohai Sea off Hebei province near Beijing. It spans 17 km2 of ocean and four sub-projects, will be fully grid-connected by July 2026, and will replace 840,000 tonnes of coal annually. China may build up to 100 GW of offshore photovoltaic capacity by 2030.

There’s incredible untapped potential for floating solar in the United States as well! The state of California and the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona have begun building solar canopies have been built over irrigation canals. The government of Colorado recently estimated that deploying floating solar on a few of the state’s reservoirs would save a gigantic 407,000 acre-feet of water.

A U.S. National Laboratory has even created an in-depth AquaPV toolset, available for free at aquapv.inl.gov, to help policymakers, developers, and anyone else interested understand the floating solar potential of specific reservoirs. The AquaPV website provides in-depth pre-calculated details for 849 reservoirs across the nation, including the estimated developable area, the solar capacity that it could support, and even early technical, economic, and CAPEX analysis for potential floating solar projects on the reservoir.

At a time of skyrocketing electricity bills due to artificial constraints on clean energy build-outs, fast-tracking U.S. floating social projects should be a no-brainer. It’s a win-win-win: there’s even some recent research finding that wild birds benefit from floating solar as a resting or nesting site! State leaders should seize this golden opportunity for abundant clean energy (plus effective water conservation!) and actively advocate for floating solar projects.

Tell your state leaders to lead on building floating solar for America!