Irrigation Districts

Throughout the United States, water is distributed through more than 25,000 miles of canals. These canals have gateways that control water flow, and thousands of these Irrigation District Organizations independently manage this massive water distribution system.

Past limitations in technology have long prevented generating significant energy in these canals due to the low flow and fluctuating water conditions.

In many cases, Irrigation Districts are also Utility Organizations that manage regional energy distribution and localized energy sales. As Utilities, they are under US Government mandates to progressively procure energy from renewable sources. The National goal is for Utilities and Irrigation Districts to be free of Fossil Fuel energy by the year 2045-2050.

As the renewable energy race intensifies, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Irrigation Districts and Utilities to meet these mandates. In some cases, Irrigation Districts have entered long term Power Purchase Agreements (PPA’S) with energy suppliers outside the United States in order to meet these mandates. In other words, they are importing this energy. In other cases, they are investing heavily in their own solar farms to help meet these demands. As competition for limited renewable energy sources accelerates it is becoming more difficult for Irrigation Districts to find cost effective solutions.

By 2025, the demand for renewable energy sources will be so great that Irrigation Districts will experience a serious disadvantage in competing for the limited available energy supply. As suppliers are forced to pay higher costs to procure energy, this will be passed on to local energy buyers in the form of higher rates. CURRENTVOLT Hydroelectric Technology allows Irrigation Districts to become Energy Generation Facilities.

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The CURRENTVOLT Technology Integration Solution, known as cTiS©, is a dynamic energy solution for Irrigation Districts.

cTiS© encompasses all areas within the Irrigation District that have the ability to produce energy and then bring them together in a single system. There are many companies in the market that have designed small ‘Micro Hydro’ turbine generators (capacity under 100 kilowatts) that are very limited in the energy that they can produce.

CURRENTVOLT turbines are installed inside of an existing canal footprint and do not require additional land. Both solar and wind installations require significant land to be purchased and converted. In many cases, this conversion creates the loss of productive agricultural land and accelerates carbon emissions. We are presently seeing a trend where generations of farmers are converting their land to solar farms at a significant pace, and this is sure to cause a new problem. The raw materials and components that are used in producing CURRENTVOLT technology are 100% recyclable, with established industries that focus on recycling these materials. The Solar industry is presently facing serious limitations in how to recycle the poly-silicon and lithium battery raw materials from outdated solar farms.

An Agricultural Energy Solution

CURRENTVOLT technology produces ‘Renewable Energy’ right in the heart of farming communities and offers a lower cost option over solar and wind. Farmers, agricultural producers, handlers, and processing facilities are businesses that create massive benefit from the products they produce to the thousands of jobs they create. As businesses they will be mandated to convert to renewable energy supply. This includes energy for agricultural facilities, harvesting and processing equipment.

For example, farmers in a county in Central California will need to replace 12,000 tractors by 2024 to meet immediate air quality standards. However, these initial changes do not come close to addressing the ultimate need to convert from fossil fuel machinery to electric farming vehicles. It has been estimated that energy requirements for all electric vehicles will require ‘Grid Capacity’ that is double the present energy supply capacity. CURRENTVOLT localized energy production will provide agricultural charging stations for farm equipment. The perfect solution: The very water flow that is required for the crops to grow, is also utilized to support machinery and equipment necessary for growing these crops in a symbiotic relationship.

Lower Agricultural Water Cost

CURRENTVOLT technology lowers the cost of ‘Water and Energy’. Farmers, agricultural producers, handlers, and processing facilities need low cost water. Irrigation Districts manage and distribute this water throughout their regional districts. The cost of Irrigation District operations is passed on to their customer base, in the form of ‘Higher Rates’.

CURRENTVOLT produces renewable energy right inside the very canals that delivery water to farmers. If local Irrigation Districts can produce energy from their own water assets, it will significantly lower the cost of their operations and create a new revenue stream that lowers the cost for water and energy rates.

Farm Energy Crisis

CURRENTVOLT technology supports the Future of Agricultural Resiliency and Modernization by investing in Climate Resilient Technologies. There is a massive change underway that is affecting the farming community. We are beginning to see farmers selling and leasing land to be used as Solar Farm Operations. This will create serious long-term consequences. When land is sold or leased for a solar farm, it is taken out of agricultural use for 20 years or more. This problem is counterproductive because ‘Crop Growth’ naturally reduces carbon in the environment.

At present, there are a handful of companies that are developing small turbines that generate energy from low flow water conditions, such as canals. However, nearly all these companies fall under the classification of Micro-Hydro and are limited to powering generators that are under 20kw to 40kw. In the few cases where larger generators are utilized, such as 100kw, it requires massive infrastructure modifications that are very costly and require significant Government subsidies to make them viable.

CURRENTVOLT offers a ‘Total System Solution’ that produces far more energy than any other turbine producer in the marketplace today.

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