Fa-rectification makes 1000km of solar-covered roads

The French government announced plans to build 1,000km of roads covered with solar panels over the next 5 years, with the goal of providing enough energy to about 5 million people, equivalent to 8% of the French population.

The project is the result of five years of research between French road construction company (Colas) and the Solar Institute. Previously, many photovoltaic experts thought that this project was impossible because of the expensive cost, the lack of safety and the less effective way of placing photovoltaic panels on the roof.

The plan to cover 1,000km of road was announced by Ségolène Royal, French Minister of Ecology, Energy and Sustainable Development at a press conference last week.

This idea was first launched by an American couple in 2014. After the campaign to mobilize capital from the community, they earned more than $ 2 million to mount solar panels on the road. The Netherlands was the first to test, giving better results than expected, in the condition of light two-wheeled vehicles circulating on the road.

Installation of solar panels on the road.(Photo: Joachim Bertrand / COLAS).

France will use solar panels called Wattway , which can be installed on any road without changing infrastructure or digging roads.

Wattway plates made from this 15cm polycrystalline silicon film are coated on a base of bitumen, which helps them withstand better force. Wattway's entire thickness is only 7mm. According to Colas, this unique layered structure increases traction than conventional energy plates, reducing the risk of accidents for trucks and cars.

"There is no need to rebuild infrastructure," Colas CEO Hervé Le Bouc told Les Echoes magazine last year, announcing Wattway. "At Chambéry and Grenoble, Wattway has been tested to withstand the traffic for 20 years of a normal road, with a million vehicles circulating without being shifted."

Energy panels are also weather resistant. Silicon batteries are safely sealed, dry when it rains, and thinness allows to meet the thermal expansion of the sidewalk.

"Even Wattway has successfully passed the durability test with snowmobiles , " Wattway's website said. "However, snow drivers still need to drive more carefully on the power panels."

Based on the assumption that only 10% of the time energy panels are obscured by vehicles, and during the continuous daylight hours left by the Sun, the company estimates that 20 square meters of Wattway will provide enough electricity. for a household, excluding heating use.

However, there is still a lot of concern that the idea of ​​solar roads will not be profitable, inefficient and not safe enough to become competitors in the field of renewable energy, especially when compared to Compare with traditional roofing.

"In order for the solar path to be effective, it must be recalculated for technology. A solution may exist, but it may not be solar power," says photovoltaic researcher Andrew Thomson.