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

variant · Aug 17, 2019

Tinker Grey said:
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.

Yeah that does seem like a much better idea.

Nithavela · Aug 17, 2019

Hopefully people will learn from this and abandon this idea, at least until significant advancements have been made.

At least it held far longer and was more productive than the project thunderfoot debunked. Not really a fan of the guy, at least of his political views. Though it was amusing how the "sceptic" community disowned him when he spoke out against brexit.

All in all, just a bunch of monkey drama, just with more fancy words.

NightHawkeye · Aug 18, 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.

Thank you for posting this update. :oldthumbsup:

hedrick · Aug 26, 2019

essentialsaltes said:
UPDATE

This project sounds like a dumb idea, but lots of things do if you don't know the specifics. If a lot of your experiments don't fail, you're not being aggressive enough.

grasping the after wind · Aug 26, 2019

variant said:
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.

Like upgrading or replacing and adding to our nuclear power facilities ?

variant · Aug 26, 2019

grasping the after wind said:
Like upgrading or replacing and adding to our nuclear power facilities ?

It would be better than just throwing subsidies at the ones we have.

grasping the after wind · Aug 26, 2019

variant said:
It would be better than just throwing subsidies at the ones we have.

I agree we should not be throwing subsidies at things. We should be expecting them to be profitable.

variant · Aug 26, 2019

grasping the after wind said:
I agree we should not be throwing subsidies at things. We should be expecting them to be profitable.

I'm not sure nuclear power can exist without subsidies then given the massive upfront costs to build and the expense to operate.

Not to mention waste disposal fees and the need for accidents to be categorized as national disasters.

NightHawkeye · Aug 27, 2019

hedrick said:
This project sounds like a dumb idea, but lots of things do if you don't know the specifics. If a lot of your experiments don't fail, you're not being aggressive enough.

If lessons were being learned, I'd agree with you.

When political dogma overrides correcting errors ... then people keep doing the same thing again and again, hoping that the outcome will somehow be different this next time. :doh:

essentialsaltes · Aug 27, 2019

NightHawkeye said:
If lessons were being learned, I'd agree with you.

Aren't they?

When political dogma overrides correcting errors ... then people keep doing the same thing again and again

How many other solar roads are there built to this design?

NightHawkeye · Aug 27, 2019

essentialsaltes said:
Aren't they?

Apparently not. The limited usefulness of solar energy has been documented for many years, in many ways.

Experiments are best conducted on a small scale.

essentialsaltes said:
How many other solar roads are there built to this design?

The politicos behind this road all knew the technology wasn't sufficient ... or affordable.

From the OP ...

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

... 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.

They already knew it cost too much ... and they already knew it wouldn't provide a useful amount of electricity. (Manufacturers of solar panels provide detailed data sheets documenting technical specifics.)

Why did they build the road? Apparently, either graft or a perceived political advantage.

CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN · Aug 27, 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.

So this was a good learning experience. Solar's work wonders on roof tops in CA.

Tom 1 · Aug 27, 2019

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!

I wonder what traction is like in the wet?

NightHawkeye · Aug 27, 2019

Tom Farebrother said:
I wonder what traction is like in the wet?

LOL ... one suspects that loss of braking power is a sacrifice one needs to make for the common good.

grasping the after wind · Aug 28, 2019

variant said:
I'm not sure nuclear power can exist without subsidies then given the massive upfront costs to build and the expense to operate.

Not to mention waste disposal fees and the need for accidents to be categorized as national disasters.

Energy is a profitable business. Reliable energy will turn a good profit unless there is an interest on the part of the political class to regulate an energy industry out of business as seems to be the case in the US with both coal and nuclear. I fully understand why those that have invested their time , money and talent into championing unreliable sources like solar and wind power would lobby government to stop a reliable source of energy like nuclear from being financially competitive with fossil fuels.

Tom 1 · Aug 28, 2019

NightHawkeye said:
LOL ... one suspects that loss of braking power is a sacrifice one needs to make for the common good.

Some sort of kinetic power accumulator would be interesting to see, on the corners of roads or something like that. No idea if that would be a viable idea though.

NightHawkeye · Aug 28, 2019

Tom Farebrother said:
Some sort of kinetic power accumulator would be interesting to see, on the corners of roads or something like that. No idea if that would be a viable idea though.

Absolutely!

Here's one:

Tom 1 · Aug 28, 2019

NightHawkeye said:
Absolutely!

Here's one:

Interesting. For the brakeless truck enthusiast?

NightHawkeye · Aug 28, 2019

Tom Farebrother said:
Interesting. For the brakeless truck enthusiast?

Exactly.

It's a little more certain and less destructive than kinetic barriers like this ...

Tom 1 · Aug 28, 2019

NightHawkeye said:
Exactly.

It's a little more certain and less destructive than kinetic barriers like this ...

I love driving across bridges. Prefer having brakes though.

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

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