Solar panels are a veritable toxic cocktail of gallium arsenide, tellurium, silver, crystalline silicon, lead, cadmium and other heavy metals. Ground up and dumped in their millions into landfills, it’s not difficult to imagine the effect on water supplies, the environment and human health as their poisonous entrails leach into the water table over the coming centuries.
However, what’s stirred Eric Worrall’s interest is a typically wacky Californian plan to cover irrigation channels (the ones that channel water to their vegetables and other horticultural crops) with panels containing all the toxic gunk we’ve described above.
California to Cover Canals With Toxic Solar Panels
Watts Up With That?
Eric Worrall
1 September 2022
Solar panels, which contain dangerous toxins like Lead, Cadmium, Arsenic and toxic plastics, are to be installed as covers for California’s water supply canals.
California to try tackling drought with canal-top solar panels
The Register
Brandon Vigliarolo
31 August 2022
California is ready to try out something that could help it save water and generate electricity at the same time: solar panels over irrigation canals.
For this proof-of-concept experiment, some 8,500 feet of photovoltaic panels will be installed over waterways just north of Turlock, central California, generating electricity while preventing water from evaporating away.
This $20 million state-funded pilot program has been dubbed Project Nexus, and will be run by Turlock Irrigation District (TID), a nonprofit water and power utility, along with its partners. If it’s a success, it could well be deployed across more of America’s Golden State. …
The Register
Solar panels are so toxic, disposal is a serious issue. From the US EPA;
Are Solar Panels Hazardous Waste?
US Environment Protection Authority
Hazardous waste testing on solar panels in the marketplace has indicated that different varieties of solar panels have different metals present in the semiconductor and solder. Some of these metals, like lead and cadmium, are harmful to human health and the environment at high levels. If these metals are present in high enough quantities in the solar panels, solar panel waste could be a hazardous waste under RCRA. Some solar panels are considered hazardous waste, and some are not, even within the same model and manufacturer. Homeowners with solar panels on their houses should contact their state/local recycling agencies for more information on disposal/recycling.
Overview of Hazardous Waste Regulations
Federal solid and hazardous waste regulations (i.e., the RCRA requirements) apply to solar panels when they are discarded. When a solar panel reaches the end of its usable life or is otherwise discarded, it becomes solid waste. Solid waste is regulated federally under RCRA Subtitle D and through state and local government programs.
US Environment Protection Authority
I don’t know if sufficient quantities of Lead, Cadmium, Arsenic and other more exotic toxins could leach into the water to constitute a health hazard. But who in their right mind would want to take such a risk?
Roofing hundreds of miles of waterways with covers which contain dangerous chemicals, and can potentially leach those dangerous chemicals into the water supply, is not my idea of a sensible plan. A low level of leaching might add up to a serious problem over a long enough distance. Even if the leach rate is initially low, as the panels deteriorate, or are vandalised, the rate at which nasty chemicals enter the water supply could accelerate to dangerous levels.
Lets just say if California goes forward with this ridiculous plan, deliberately placing deadly toxins in close proximity to their household and agricultural water supply, I’m going to start checking the produce labels more carefully in the future when I go shopping.
Watts Up With That?
Hell on Earth: where solar panels are born.
About stopthesethings
STOP THESE THINGS 
And greens agonize over spent nuclear fuel encased in zirconium and concrete….
This is a waste! cost lot but get less.
Another Not for Profit (aka: Go for Loss) fiasco on the books?
Since these panels are black if those in charge were consistent in their concerns about heat entering the atmosphere they would paint these white so they reflect rather than absorb radiation. I am guessing the temperature of the air underneath these will be hot as the panels of black will absorb radiation and thus will get hot and thus trap air flow and thus cause more evaporation. It’s kind of a physics and science thing leading us to conclude this is again another high technology industrialist scheme used to transfer green $$$ energy based on the ongoing DISABLED ENERGY schemes of wind and solar. Disposing of the panels will also channel more green $$$ energy to agencies managing the toxic waste and thus once again we see they are channeling your energy to feed pensions. We will hear about new rules they create that force homeowners set up a disposal fund for their solar panels when the new owner buys the home thus adding another $20,000 to the cost. All of this money comes from robust energy not these disabled energy systems. They are pipelines to your money pure and simple. They are all based on the use of natural Earth energy of coal, oil, gas these disabled energy wind and solar systems cannot function without it so this solar project is more wasted energy. My guess is if we were to follow the flow we would see all this money going to feed lawyers and interlocking directorate companies that then use that cash to buy off the politicians who keep approving this disabled energy that is stuck in a green energy wheel chair and then we are told to treat it equally when it cannot do the same work of robust energy which makes perfect sense if you own a unicorn ranch in California.
Mad…
A lightning strike to a panel could be messy.