France Paving More Than 600 Miles of Road With Solar Panels
Feb 4, 2016 7:46:16 GMT -6
Glencairn likes this
Post by Rickster on Feb 4, 2016 7:46:16 GMT -6
SOURCE:
"Last week, France’s minister of Ecology and Energy announced that the country will pave 621 miles of road with solar panels over the next five years, with the goal of providing cheap, renewable energy to five million people.
The U.S. Could Switch to Mostly Renewable Energy, No Batteries Needed
. Called "the Wattway," the roads will be built in collaboration with the French road-building company Colas and the National Institute of Solar Energy. The company spent the last five years developing solar panels that are only about a quarter of an inch thick and are hardy enough to stand up to heavy highway traffic without breaking or making the roads more slippery, David Rogers reports for Global Construction Review. The panels are also designed so that they can be installed directly on top of existing roadways, making them relatively cheap and easy to install without having to tear up any infrastructure.
"There is no need to rebuild infrastructure," Colas CEO Hervé Le Bouc told Myriam Chauvot for the French magazine Les Echoes in 2015. "At Chambéry and Grenoble, 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 made out of a thin polycrystalline silicon film and coated in a layer of resin to strengthen them and make them less slippery. Because the panels are so thin, they can adapt to small changes in the surface of pavement due to temperature shifts and are sealed tightly against the weather, Fiona MacDonald reports for ScienceAlert. According to Colas, the panels are even snowplow-proof, although plows need to be a little more cautious so as not to rip the panels off the ground.
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The U.S. Could Switch to Mostly Renewable Energy, No Batteries Needed
. Called "the Wattway," the roads will be built in collaboration with the French road-building company Colas and the National Institute of Solar Energy. The company spent the last five years developing solar panels that are only about a quarter of an inch thick and are hardy enough to stand up to heavy highway traffic without breaking or making the roads more slippery, David Rogers reports for Global Construction Review. The panels are also designed so that they can be installed directly on top of existing roadways, making them relatively cheap and easy to install without having to tear up any infrastructure.
"There is no need to rebuild infrastructure," Colas CEO Hervé Le Bouc told Myriam Chauvot for the French magazine Les Echoes in 2015. "At Chambéry and Grenoble, 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 made out of a thin polycrystalline silicon film and coated in a layer of resin to strengthen them and make them less slippery. Because the panels are so thin, they can adapt to small changes in the surface of pavement due to temperature shifts and are sealed tightly against the weather, Fiona MacDonald reports for ScienceAlert. According to Colas, the panels are even snowplow-proof, although plows need to be a little more cautious so as not to rip the panels off the ground.
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This is a great idea and has been around for some time now. After searching the articles about this, I just wish they had provided more information. I would like to know the cost per square foot, and the power generated by these panels. If you have ever designed a solar system there is much more info I wish they would supply to see just how cost effective this really is. But this idea in general is great and it's something we should have done in this country years ago. The whole idea is it has to be worth while to do, if we are saving the environment, saving people money, or we just stop building power plants and nuclear plants that's great but it really has to be worth while. Right now solar is cost effective yet, I really don;t know if they are keeping it that way so big power companies can stay in control, but if you want solar the pay back is silly. Now if your off grind in a remote area by all means use solar pulling power into a piece of property then makes solar very attractive. I hope this works, leave to someone like France to lead the way...