Reducing our dependence on oil and turning to friendlier energy sources is a goal many countries have put on their agenda, even if only in small steps. That brings us back to French territory, where the village of Tourouvre-au-Perche has built a one-kilometer "solar road" with integrated panels that will power local street lighting, benefiting more than three thousand people.
A village covers the asphalt with solar panels
Whenever we think about solar energy, it is tempting to picture large-scale projects, but it does not have to be that way. One of the great benefits of solar energy is that it can vary its scale without major problems, so if adoption is not viable for an entire city, it might be for a neighborhood or a commune. A very important question is how to deploy a project with those characteristics. We recently talked about the work SolarCity did on an island, but that company had access to virtually ideal conditions. Now, if we move to small towns that don't have large available spaces (or cannot use them for other reasons), it is necessary to give room to creativity and unconventional ideas, for example, covering the asphalt with solar panels.
That is what the village of Tourouvre-au-Perche did by building a special one-kilometer stretch. The panels cover a total of 2,800 square meters, over which about two thousand vehicles travel each day. The official inauguration took place yesterday with Ségolène Royal at the helm, the current Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy of France. This "solar road" will undergo 24 months of tests to see if it can supply enough energy for the street lighting infrastructure that reaches the 3,400 inhabitants of the village.
The technology is known as Wattway, developed by the Colas Group, and its official website highlights the main benefits. First of all, the panels can be installed on existing roads, and second, they have a coating that protects them from the weight of vehicles, the harshness of the weather, and thermal stress.
Testing, costs, and the future
The next goal for this project is to move beyond its prototype phase, and of course, lower costs. The solar road demanded an investment of five million euros, which drew criticism from opponents. Still, someone has to get their feet wet first, and everything will depend on how well the system works over the next two years.
