French and Chinese companies are experimenting with new technologies that would revolutionize the solar industry, producing solar panels that can be placed on our roads to make electricity. The appeal of “solar roads”, solar panels installed in place of asphalt, is clear. Generating electricity from already developed areas, like highways and streets, rather than from fields could conserve a lot of land.

By producing electricity on roads in and around cities, the electricity can be transmitted relatively shorter distances with less lost in transmission, as opposed to electricity from solar panels in rural fields. And procuring the land is essentially free because roads are needed anyway. Durable solar panels could reduce the cost of road maintenance, too.

Generating electricity on roads themselves could have other advantages, such as melting snow that falls on them or embedding them with lights for better illumination. There has been experimentation of using solar roads to re-charge electric vehicles.

The surface of experimental solar panels is composed of a complex polymer that has slightly more friction than a conventional road surface. Developers are trying to modify manufacturing procedures to ensure a tire’s grip on it is equivalent to asphalt.

A number of challenges exist for this technology before it is widely used. For example, a solar road is currently about 3 to 4 times the cost of a conventional asphalt road, although solar roads produce a sellable commodity, electricity. Based on current costs of electricity, the payback for the increased cost of a solar road is about 15 years. This payback can decrease if the solar panels can be made more efficient in producing electricity, as they lie flat and are occasionally blocked by vehicles.

One critical question left unanswered is how well solar panels can take the pounding of huge numbers of tires daily for many years. Most U.S. roads are made primarily with asphalt, which can buckle or shift under the weight of many cars, potentially damaging the solar chips that produce the electricity. European and Chinese roads have more concrete to absorb the flow, compared to U.S. roads. In addition, solar panels on roads might be stolen, leaving large potholes in the road and reducing productivity.

CCES can use our technical and economic experience to help your company or building assess a wide array of renewable energy options and which make the most sense for your specific building and circumstance. Contact us today at 914-584-6720 or at karell@CCESworld.com.