Solar Road

France to Install 1,000km Solar Road to Power 5 

Million People

 The France government has announced plans to install 1,000 km (621 miles) of road with durable photovoltaic panels over the next five years. The goal is to supply renewable power to 5 million people, that’s around 8% of France population.

The solar roadways will use Wattway panels, a photovoltaic technology result from five years of research between French Road Construction Company, Colas, and the National Institute of Solar Energy. The Wattway photovoltaic solar panels will be laid over the top of existing roadways and harvest energy to provide electric power to approximately one household per meter. It is understood the amount of power will be sufficient enough for most household needs apart from heating.

The French definitely aren't the first to embrace solar roads, though. Back in 2014, a US team raised more than US$2million to develop road-ready photovoltaic panels. And the Netherlands installed the world’s first solar panel paved bicycle path in 2014. Their plans for 1,000 kilometers of solarized roads are the most ambitious.

But this will be the first time solar panels be installed onto public roads, and the patented panel design, known as Wattway, is unique in that it can applied on top of existing roads, without having to rip up or reinstall any infrastructure.

Another benefit comes in the construction of the Photovoltaic Solar Panels, which are made of a thin film of polycrystalline silicon, coated in a resin substrate to make them stronger. The whole thing is just 7mm thick. According to Colas, this unique, layered structure gives the panels a lot more grip than other solar road panels, and can reduce the risk of accidents for trucks and cars.

There is no need to rebuild infrastructure, it was tested successfully on Wattway a cycle of 1 million vehicles, or 20 years of normal traffic a road, and the surface does not move.

The panels are apparently also weather proof, the Polycrystalline Silicon Solar Cells are safely encapsulated to keep them dry in the rain, and the material is so thin that it can adapt to thermal dilation in the pavement.

The panels have even passed the snowplow test with flying colors. However, operators do need to operate the machines with a bit more care on Wattway panels than on conventional pavement.

Based on the assumption that roads are only covered by vehicles roughly 10 percent of the time, and during the rest of the sunny hours they'll be soaking up rays, the company estimates that 20 square meters of Wattway panels will provide enough electricity to power a single French home, excluding heating.

While there remain many concerns on solar road concepts, including safety and cost effectiveness, the project remains an exciting step forward in exploring the potential of renewable energy.

http://www.ledpv.com/blog/france-to-install-1,000km-solar-road-to-power-5-million-people_b52