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World's First Solar Panel Road Opens in Normandy Village

posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday December 28 2016, @07:32AM   Printer-friendly
from the checking-the-cost-benefit-numbers dept.

mrpg writes:

France has opened what it claims to be the world's first solar panel road in a Normandy village.

A 1km (0.6-mile) route in the small village of Tourouvre-au-Perche covered with 2,800 sq m of electricity-generating panels, was inaugurated on Thursday by the ecology minister, Ségolène Royal.

It cost €5m (£4.2m) to construct and will be used by about 2,000 motorists a day during a two-year test period to establish if it can generate enough energy to power street lighting in the village of 3,400 residents.

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  • (Score: 1) by Francis on Wednesday December 28 2016, @08:35AM

    by Francis (5544) on Wednesday December 28 2016, @08:35AM (#446592)

    TBH, this kind of thing makes far more sense for the drivable portions of parking lots or roads in the middle of nowhere than it does to any of the places they've tried to use it.

    And even there, it would make more sense to have more conventional solar arrays as that way you could cover the entire parking lot and give people someplace to get out of the rain as they go to and from their vehicles.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 28 2016, @12:38PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 28 2016, @12:38PM (#446640)

    Probably makes sense only as a real-world testbed that gets accelerated wear compared to a parking lot or cycle lane so that they can make an educated guess if it would work 20-30 years (which I'm told is the average
    service life of streetlamps) there. Also the solar cells are probably just a small fraction of the 5 million total - modern road construction is expensive although (or because) you usually do not see more than five guys and a
    couple of strange steel beasts on site at any time.