CENTRAL POINT, Ore. – More than 1,700 solar panels are now floating on a Medford Irrigation District reservoir, marking Oregon’s first floating solar project. The panels generate clean energy for local residents.

Households that can’t install rooftop panels can subscribe to the program and see lower power bills.

“This project here will deliver clean, renewable energy, affordable, renewable energy to local residents,” said Kyle Petrocine, renewable energy program manager for Energy Trust of Oregon.

“It is a program that’s designed to offer, make the benefits of clean solar power available to everyone.”

The project helps farmers who rely on the district’s water supply. MID supplies water to roughly 12,000 acres of farmland.

“They rely on us to provide them with water out of the reservoirs. And so this directly benefits them in the monetary value with the lower, reduced cost of their bill, but also the water quality and quantity,” said Jack Friend, manager of Medford Irrigation District.

“We’re looking at reduced evaporation and reduced aquatic issues within the reservoir.”

The energy created here generates revenue. That money can go back into modernizing irrigation systems that are nearly a century old.

“We will be generating energy that will provide revenue to the irrigation district to support their irrigation modernization efforts,” said Julie O’Shea, executive director of Farmers Conservation Alliance.

“As we face drought and our communities are built in different ways, we have to modernize those systems.”

O’Shea said the project helps the district modernize its irrigation infrastructure during this year’s drought. Drought concerns are growing across the region.

“If we have another dry winter, we’re gonna be in a world of hurt just because we weren’t able to recover this,” Friend said.

The project combines water, energy and agriculture to address some of the region’s biggest challenges and could become a model for other communities.