Dutch company TNO recently presented its idea for the SolaRoad. While the application will likely be used for roads eventually, TNO has its eye on Holland’s 15,000 km of bike paths to start installation of its solar panel-infused road.
The current conceptual design for the SolaRoad consists of modules. For the cycling application, the path will consist of prefab elements made up in layers: a concrete housing, solar cells, and optical layer and a transparent top layer. The concrete element will measure 1.5 by 2.5 meters and each layer will be placed on top. The glass will be a 1 cm thick hardened glass layer of crystal silicon solar cells. The road surface will then collect roughly 50 kWh per square meter annually. An average household consumes about 3,500 kWh of electricity per year.
Solar roadways have a few criteria in the design and implementation such as stiffness and maintenance. Benefits the SolaRoad can provide include the ability to display messages electronically on the road. If it’s a cycling path, the road can display a message that the upcoming light is turning red in cases where the path crosses a road. It also eliminates what TNO calls “landscape pollution”.
New applications to collect solar energy are interesting to watch. It will be great to see the roadways become potential solar farms rather than taking up vast open spaces to install solar panel farms. However with a top layer of glass, we are interested to see what the actual surface will be like. Roads especially, but even bike paths, can get slick with even the slightest amount of rain. How will the glass and other layers of SolaRoad stand up to cold and extreme weather conditions? We know this isn’t your average glass, but it sure can get cold and snowy in those winter months in the Netherlands.
For more information visit TNO and locate the English option.
via [Cyclecious]