Solar PV In Our Roads
Frequent commenter Frank writes: A retired electrical engineer came up with the idea of solar powered highways a couple of years ago. He and his wife have been working on this ever since. They live in Northern Idaho, and so far they have put together a couple of parking lots for test purposes. They have a very large grant from the Federal Transportation Dept. They also have an engineering firm that is actually looking into the ability to recharge an EV through static electricity. Last article I read said they would be done testing their solar roads in the summer of 2016, I believe. Website SolarRoads.com; it’s kind of interesting.
Yes, I’ve come across a great number of people who are talking about using the road space itself for PV, and building solar panels that are highly resistant to the wear and tear represented by our automobiles. I’m not sure where this will go; it’s a function of how much monetary value we place on that space. Personally, I can’t imagine that the number is large enough to justify the cost, but I could be wrong.
There is one short stretch of cycle path in the Netherlands using solar panels for the path. I would however consider it likely that on busy roads, yield would be low due to shade issues and dirt, and costs high due to the need for very high strength components. What’s more, most roads have a variety of buried services, and I can’t help thinking the solar road concept would seriously increase the cost of road works.