Renewable energy had been in the works for the past few years and 2016 was the year when the most innovations had been seen. Before the year ends, France becomes the title holder for the world's first solar road. With many skepticism from members of the scientific community, could this innovative idea be the future of solar energy?
By the end of the year 2015, it has been reported that France wanted to explore the possibility of incorporating solar panels in their roads as a means of harnessing energy. They have officially conceptualized a plan of building a 1,000-kilometer solar roadway as a test of how efficient energy production could be through solar roads.
As reported from the Treehugger, this concept has been developed to not only generate energy for local residents' homes but also to maximize the total land area which would be used for energy production. It is a known fact that solar farms tend to occupy a significant land area to be efficient. Instead of using up space for solar farms or using the rooftops of homes and buildings, the solar pavement could be the future of solar power.
The road has been paved with a photovoltaic road surface with panels consisted of polycrystalline silicon cells that could transform solar energy to electricity. These panels are resistant to the weight of vehicles even during heavy traffic.
Known as the Wattway, this particular solar pavement project has been estimated to produce about 280-megawatt hours of energy every year. It has been reported by Science Alert that this amount of energy could provide energy for a small town of about 5,000 people. The project costs went to a total of five million dollars.
Many people have been seen to be quite skeptical about this project and it seems that their worst fears are right. A report from Forbes has indicated that the small amount of energy the solar pavement produces does to justify the total cost which has been used for the project.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
