Featured Solar road

try telling that to the french environmental minister.

 

Sounds nice in theory, but let's see how it works in practice. I'd like to know how they'll account for frost heaving when the dirt underneath pushes the road, and consequently the panels, around in winter.

Wouldn't it have been more practical if they placed regular solar panels above the roads, or on a wall running alongside so they could double as a wind break?

 

technical details might be fascinating.

 

In industrial buildings in northern climes, we (Industrial consulting engineering firms) would specify generous 1/4" plate awnings over mandoors. These were buildings with high main roofs, little or no insulation: big icicles would build up and occasionally plummet down.

 

Speaking of buildings and roofs, how about Tesla's gigafactory ?
. . . Tesla's Gigafactory will produce as much renewable energy as it uses (net zero energy) : TreeHugger



P.S. That's a "Promo Image" . Another web site tags it as an "Architectural rendering." It's not a photograph.

Tesla is planning on installing all those solar panels, and more on nearby land. Solar City will be the source, with Solar Wall batteries providing the storage capacity.

 

pretty sweet, especially when you can get the panels wholesale.

 

What advantages will that have over putting them on rooftops?

In snow country, a wind break is also a snow fence, creating deep snow drifts directly on the road. This is not a good thing.

Some sound barrier walls could serve dual purpose as solar energy walls. Here is one I spotted in Italy several years ago:

 

Placed right it can keep snow drifts off the road.
Currently, there is a stretch of road where snow drifts form right on it. Where I lived in the past, a drift fence would have been placed off from the road so the snow drift formed off the road.

 

Yes. Properly placed, snow fences help keep snow off the road. But that requires a different placement that doesn't serve as a wind break for the road.

 

Normandy with 40 days of great sun ... compared to 3X that much in other spots/road in the country. Wow.
maybe they'll use the power to melt most of the snow that falls on it

.

 

We have closed more nuclear plant capacity than is provided by all renewable methods. We need all of it everywhere.

 

Solar roads in NJ=solar potholes.

 

Don't splash in them.

 

Simple. Our Govt makes us do it at least once a year!

 

I've seen that principle used to opposite, but effect on vehicles in hot eastern climates.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.curbed.com/platform/amp/2019/7/25/8929870/france-solar-roadway-experiment-normandy

It doesn’t work, it puts out way lower than predicted capacity then breaks damaging car tires and gets very noisy

The freeze thaw cycle isn’t even an issue
The standard, leaves and road debris break the panels

 

projects don't get funded & people don't get all excited about things unless you over promise. Suddenly the thougt of hydrogen cars comes to mind ... & high output Prius solar roof panels.
.

 

... back to the drawing board for Rev 2.

I find it very surprising that the designers didn't account for heavy trucks and tractors. Were they too cheap to employ some good mechanical engineers with road and bridge building experience?

I'd also think that the basic design process would include deploying a bunch of dummy (i.e. cheaper) glass units first to better characterize buildup of obscuring debris, wear and tear, and breakage.

 

The walking path panels didn’t work any better
All 3 large projects have failed including
China
Norway and
France

 

At least you don’t walk or drive on car panels

Output being low one can rationalize
Physical failure in a short time, not so much