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Old Posted Sep 6, 2020, 7:08 PM
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European Trio Working On Solar Canopy For Highways

European Trio Working On Solar Canopy For Highways


September 5th, 2020

By Zachary Shahan

Read More: https://cleantechnica.com/2020/09/05...ighway-system/

Quote:
A trio of technology leaders in Europe, the Austrian Institute of Technology, Fraunhofer ISE in Germany, and Forster Industrietechnik in Switzerland is working to develop a solar canopy system for highways in order to tap into the vast, under-utilized road network for clean electricity generation.

- The solar power infrastructure would need to be developed to handle things a bit differently from rooftop solar panels or even solar panel carports. For one, you wouldn’t want tens of thousands of dollars (or euros) of damage every time there’s an accident. So, the system would need to be developed in a way that it would be especially sturdy or resilient in the case of impact. It would also need special design to manage wind low as well as rain and snow in a way that is compatible with the needs of the roadway network. Naturally, traffic safety is another unique concern, and efficient maintenance would be important to making it cost competitive.

- In addition to the double use of space, the scientists expect other positive outcomes, including the protection of road surfaces from precipitation and overheating. — As long as the designers create a system that provides satisfactory durability and resilience at a compelling cost, it seems this is an option that could scale up quickly from fairly uniform highway design and economies of scale. Protection of roadways in order to help them last longer before needing repair is one potentially large benefit itself, even before you get into the electricity generation benefit. This is certainly not the first time this idea has been floated. We’ll see if this European team can help it to actually go somewhere.

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