World’s first solar road opens in France: It’s ridiculously expensive

NightHawkeye · Dec 24, 2016

The road was built by Colas, a large Anglo-French construction company. Colas has apparently been working on its own solar road tech, called Wattway, for at least five years. Wattway has been tested in car parks, but this is the first time it has been used on an active road. There will now be a two-year test period, to see if Wattway can withstand the rigour of being pounded by thousands of cars and trucks per day, and whether it can actually provide a useful amount of electricity.

Usefulness aside, the main problem with constructing solar roads is their crippling cost. One of the main selling points of Wattway, according to Colas, is that each panel is just a few millimetres thick, and can thus be installed on top of an existing road, which in turn massively reduces construction costs. Having said that, the 1km road in Normandy cost €5 million (£4.3m) to build. And that's for a single lane of a two-lane highway!

PrettyChillAtheist · Dec 24, 2016

As expensive as it is I think it's a step in the right direction. Renewable energy sources are something we need to invest a lot more into.

NightHawkeye · Dec 24, 2016

PrettyChillAtheist said:
As expensive as it is I think it's a step in the right direction. Renewable energy sources are something we need to invest a lot more into.

Noting that the problem with solar cells has long been that their construction consumes more energy than the cells ever deliver. Some sources claim that that has changed in recent years, though given the limited lifetime of solar cells on an active roadway it seems likely that this project is, at best, a break-even proposition for either energy generated or cost.

jimmyjimmy · Dec 24, 2016

NightHawkeye said:
World’s first solar road opens in France: It’s ridiculously expensive

The road was built by Colas, a large Anglo-French construction company. Colas has apparently been working on its own solar road tech, called Wattway, for at least five years. Wattway has been tested in car parks, but this is the first time it has been used on an active road. There will now be a two-year test period, to see if Wattway can withstand the rigour of being pounded by thousands of cars and trucks per day, and whether it can actually provide a useful amount of electricity.

Usefulness aside, the main problem with constructing solar roads is their crippling cost. One of the main selling points of Wattway, according to Colas, is that each panel is just a few millimetres thick, and can thus be installed on top of an existing road, which in turn massively reduces construction costs. Having said that, the 1km road in Normandy cost €5 million (£4.3m) to build. And that's for a single lane of a two-lane highway!

Insanity.

Archie the Preacher · Dec 24, 2016

Hopefully, like automobiles, calculators and mobile phones, the technology will develop and become much more efficient and affordable.

In the meantime, one takes a deep breath.

GoldenBoy89 · Dec 24, 2016

Computers and cell phones were also extremely unaffordable the day they came out.

Arcangl86 · Dec 24, 2016

Lets see how much power this thing generates before judging it. Though it is kind of odd that the pilot is in a area of France that isn't particularly sunny.

rambot · Dec 24, 2016

jimmyjimmy said:
Insanity.

Really? Is it insane that they would want to be doing in situ testing of a new technology? Is that REALLY TRULY "insane"?

Arcangl86 said:
Lets see how much power this thing generates before judging it. Though it is kind of odd that the pilot is in a area of France that isn't particularly sunny.

Weird right? There are areas of teh US that would be FAR better locales.

SummerMadness · Dec 24, 2016

Oh noes! New technology that's expensive at its inception, we all know the price will never come down. Look at television, computers and cellular phones, still completely unaffordable.

Arcangl86 · Dec 24, 2016

rambot said:
Really? Is it insane that they would want to be doing in situ testing of a new technology? Is that REALLY TRULY "insane"?

Weird right? There are areas of teh US that would be FAR better locales.

Well this project is being partially funded by the French national government, but there are areas in France that would be far better choices if light is the only issue. Though I suppose traffic wear and community size might also be factors.

Nithavela · Dec 24, 2016

New developments always cost more than they recoup in the beginning.

Arcangl86 · Dec 24, 2016

Imagine if we stopped developing any new technology just because it was expensive without discovering the uses it might have. We wouldn't be able to have this discussion for one. DARPANET cost an absolute fortune to develop.

Nithavela · Dec 24, 2016

Arcangl86 said:
Well this project is being partially funded by the French national government, but there are areas in France that would be far better choices if light is the only issue. Though I suppose traffic wear and community size might also be factors.

I guess since it's a proof of concept thing, the main factor was not the expected energy return.

Maybe they took a highway that is very constantly driven at a usefull rate?

Nithavela · Dec 24, 2016

Arcangl86 said:
Well this project is being partially funded by the French national government, but there are areas in France that would be far better choices if light is the only issue. Though I suppose traffic wear and community size might also be factors.

You just know that a few thousand years ago, some people were having the same conversation concerning bronze:

"What is this new fangled alloy stuff? Copper has served our ancestors well for generations, and it is far prettier and easier to manufacture."

Arcangl86 · Dec 24, 2016

Nithavela said:
I guess since it's a proof of concept thing, the main factor was not the expected energy return.

Maybe they took a highway that is very constantly driven at a usefull rate?

Another article I read on this subject said that they are actually testing to see if the nearby town could be powered by the output from the road alone.

Douger · Dec 24, 2016

Not a bad idea, and not that expensive. It's certainly better to explore these options than to just tear up more and more of the earths crust searching for fossil fuels.
I just wonder if it wouldn't be better to put the panels on roofs instead of on a road. I guess there's only one way to find out.

Tinker Grey · Dec 24, 2016

Here's a series of videos by Thuderf00t

that more-or-less debunking solar-freakin'-roadways. (Language alert!)

The upshot would seem to be this: There are any number of places to put solar panels that are vastly less expensive and vastly more efficient than on a roadway. For example, solar panels on a rooftop don't need to sustain traffic. Most solar farms have panels that track the sun. Panels as paving cannot do that.

The one appealing thought is that this is surface area that might be serve a dual purpose. But until we run out of better places, this appears to be a bit of a boondoggle.

essentialsaltes · Aug 17, 2019

UPDATE

In July, the French daily newspaper Le Monde reported that the 0.6-mile solar road was a fiasco.

In December 2016, when the trial road was unveiled, the French Ministry of the Environment called it "unprecedented." French officials said the road, made of photovoltaic panels, would generate electricity to power streetlights in Tourouvre, a local town.

But less than three years later, a report published by Global Construction Review says France's road dream may be over. Cracks have appeared, and in 2018, part of the road had to be demolished due to damage from wear and tear.

Even at its peak, the road was only producing half of the expected energy, because engineers didn't take into consideration rotting leaves falling on the road.

super animator · Aug 17, 2019

essentialsaltes said:
UPDATE

In July, the French daily newspaper Le Monde reported that the 0.6-mile solar road was a fiasco.

In December 2016, when the trial road was unveiled, the French Ministry of the Environment called it "unprecedented." French officials said the road, made of photovoltaic panels, would generate electricity to power streetlights in Tourouvre, a local town.

But less than three years later, a report published by Global Construction Review says France's road dream may be over. Cracks have appeared, and in 2018, part of the road had to be demolished due to damage from wear and tear.

Even at its peak, the road was only producing half of the expected energy, because engineers didn't take into consideration rotting leaves falling on the road.

Thunderf00t call it.

variant · Aug 17, 2019

We've been funding unprofitable nuclear plants here in the US that are using technology 60+ years old.

I don't think trying new things is the worst thing in the world.

World’s first solar road opens in France: It’s ridiculously expensive

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