Project Nexus is a public research project led by the University of California, Merced and the Turlock Irrigation District. It tests putting solar panels over canals in California to see if they can make electricity and reduce water loss at the same time. The first phase, completed on a narrow canal, confirmed both structural and energy-generating potential. The second phase, now in progress, expands to wider canals (110 ft), requiring customized construction methods. The project also looks at the technical problems of building solar panels over water. If used across all canals in California, it could save 63 billion gallons of water every year—enough for 2 million people—while also making clean electricity.