Can you believe it, the world’s first solar road is up and running!
Solar roads: The American couldn’t stop raving about it – then said it would never work – yet now the Netherlands are proving that it can be done!
The world’s first solar cycling path has been installed in the Netherlands, with further plans to embed solar panels into all the roads in the country to power everything from traffic lights to electric cars.
The said road that is now dotted with solar panels is a bike path that services 2 000 cyclists per day as they travel between the suburbs of Krommenie and Wormerveer in Amsterdam. Set to open next week, the 70 metre path is the first solar road in the world – a proof of concept that engineers around the world are eager to copy.
Named the ”SolaRoad”, it was made using rows of crystalline silicon solar cells, which were embedded into the concrete of the path and covered over by a thick, tempered glass. According to The Guardian, the path costs about R42m to build, and the government has plans to extend this part of the solar road in 2016.
While the amount of solar energy generated from the road will be pretty modest – once stretched to 100 metres, it’s expected to produce enough energy to power three households – the point of the project is to show that solar roads can actually be practical.
Hopefully ONE DAY something like this will be able to succeed in South Africa as well.