A New Look At The Viability Of Solar Roads

What if the global road system had untapped potential to produce clean energy? The latest renewable energy innovation may be designing solar technologies to fit into existing transportation infrastructure. While previous testing has underscored several barriers to implementation, experimentation has many wondering if solar roads could solve the world’s growing energy demand.

At current costs per square kilometre, the technology is unaffordable. Improved materials, durability and conversion efficiency, however, along with significant unit cost reductions for both installation and maintenance may still produce results.

The alternate strategy would be to use the rights-of-way of highways to install conventional photovoltaic panels on medians and shoulders which can be done now.