{"id":45275,"date":"2026-11-06T15:55:55","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T20:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/?p=45275"},"modified":"2026-11-06T15:55:55","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T20:55:55","slug":"twin-lakes-floating-solar-ohio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/twin-lakes-floating-solar-ohio\/45275\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio\u2019s Twin Lakes Reservoir gets a 2-MW floating solar array that powers Lima\u2019s drinking-water treatment plant directly"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of folks think of a drinking-water storage facility as having one job. To hold water.<\/p>\n

It just sits there until a community wants some. That\u2019s why one water-reservoir in Ohio is unique.<\/p>\n

Twin Lakes Reservoir is helping out with something the average person wouldn\u2019t normally connect<\/strong> to a drinking-water supply source.<\/p>\n

Once you know what that is, it will be hard to stop wondering why more locations aren\u2019t taking the same approach.<\/p>\n

Most places would have stopped right there<\/h2>\n

In addition to providing the City of Lima with its main source of drinking-water, water from the reservoir passes through a treatment plant.<\/p>\n

The plant produces approximately 14 million gallons of water per day for approximately 35,000 residents. However, the reservoir is now performing a secondary function.<\/p>\n

A floating solar array located in the reservoir provides direct electrical power to the<\/strong> City of Lima\u2019s water-treatment plant. As such, this is where the story gets even more interesting.<\/p>\n

That’s when a different problem started to emerge<\/h3>\n

Typically, physical infrastructure related to water management and physical infrastructure related to energy generation are considered to be separate systems.<\/p>\n

Moreover, solar-generation projects are generally assumed to require their own plot of land. This seems obvious until space becomes limited.<\/p>\n

Cities have streets. Buildings take space. Parks take space. They have unlimited demand for space and therefore, numerous competing interests for space.<\/p>\n

Approximately four acres of the reservoir surface are covered by the floating solar array at Twin Lakes.<\/p>\n

A comparable ground-mounted solar-generating system would need approximately ten acres of land.<\/p>\n

Given that difference, it explains why the reservoir was identified as part of the answer.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, at some point, the discussion ceases to revolve around whether solar-generated power is beneficial but rather revolves around where it can physically be placed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The solution turned out to be hiding in plain sight<\/h2>\n

Twin Lakes essentially solved this riddle by examining existing infrastructure and how it could potentially accommodate new development.<\/p>\n

Rather than attempting to identify additional land for which to develop a solar project, the City of Lima<\/a> chose to utilize the surface area of the existing reservoir as part of the solution.<\/p>\n

The floating solar project was developed by D3Energy<\/a>. Funding support was also provided through the U.S. Department of Energy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The surface area used by the floating solar array is part of pre-existing infrastructure associated with the existing use of the reservoir.<\/p>\n

That minor adjustment alters virtually all aspects of the conversation<\/strong> regarding this topic.<\/p>\n

One example doesn’t answer every question<\/h3>\n

That does not suggest that every reservoir is automatically capable of hosting a floating solar array.<\/p>\n

Different types of reservoirs provide different services to communities under varying environmental conditions. Thus, what proves effective in one locale may not prove effective elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Twin Lakes should be regarded as an exemplary model rather than a universally<\/strong> applicable template.<\/p>\n

When considering widespread implementation, this distinction becomes critical.<\/p>\n

There was more happening beneath the surface<\/h2>\n

Electricity generation is only part of the story. The floating-solar system may assist in reducing evaporative losses while supporting more consistent water temperatures within portions of the reservoir.<\/p>\n

Additionally, shade created by the floating-solar array may assist in controlling algal growth during warmer seasons in various areas of the reservoir.<\/p>\n

All of these advantages occur in conjunction with the electricity being produced to operate the treatment plant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The surface area of the reservoir is supporting more than one type of<\/strong> public good service.<\/p>\n

Now imagine that challenge showing up across the country<\/h3>\n

Municipalities worldwide are searching for ways to expand renewable energy while trying to find enough land to build on.<\/p>\n

Twin Lakes suggests that some opportunities may already exist inside<\/strong> infrastructure cities have been using for decades.<\/p>\n

Water reservoirs<\/a> were built to fix one problem. Projects like this hint that they may also be able to help fix another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lot of folks think of a drinking-water storage facility as having one job. To hold water. It just sits there until a community wants some. That\u2019s why one water-reservoir in Ohio is unique. Twin Lakes Reservoir is helping out with something the average person wouldn\u2019t normally connect to a drinking-water supply source. Once you … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":45373,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"twin lakes,reservoir","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"A floating solar array at Ohio's Twin Lakes Reservoir helps power Lima's drinking-water treatment plant while using reservoir space instead of new land.","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45275"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45415,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45275\/revisions\/45415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}