Nature
PUBLISHED
A stretch of road in rural France has been given a Elon Musk-esque makeover, with a portion of its path being paved with solar panels.
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On average, the road will pump out 767 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity every day, or as much as 1,500 kWh per day on a sunny summer’s day. That’s not a huge amount, since flat panels are considerably less efficient at harvesting energy from sunlight compared to angled roof-mounted panels. However, the road will generate enough electricity to power an average family home for a year. The project does not come cheap either, expecting to cost around €5 million ($5.2 million).
The path is being heralded as the world’s first solar powered road. A few smaller solar-powered paths have been opened in Europe, such as the solar-cycle path in Amsterdam, however, this is thought to be the first one that can carry road traffic.
The project is a two-year trial, which is being used to assess the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the road. Whether it will be rolled out elsewhere remains unknown considering its hefty price tag. Nevertheless, the company behind the project, Colas, is a large multinational with the money behind it and a strong history of innovating transport infrastructure.
"We are still experimenting with Wattway. Building an application site of this magnitude is a real opportunity for our innovation,” Jean-Charles Broizat, CEO of Wattway, said in a statement.
“This application site has enabled us to improve our process of installing photovoltaic panels as well as their manufacture, in order to optimize our solution as best as possible."
