Turns Out A Road Made Of Solar Panels Was, In Fact, A Bad Idea - They don't repair well, don't angle to the sun, and get covered by leaves, and are noisy

The French government in conjunction with the company Colas built a one-kilometre long road covered in solar panels in a small village in Normandy for $5.2 million. Protected with silicon and resin, the thinking went it could withstand the punishment from thousands upon thousands of vehicles while generating electricity for nearby homes.

The French newspaper Le Monde reported that, after two and a half years, some things have gone wrong:
* The road had to be shortened by 100 meters because a portion was too damaged to be repairs
* The protective resin is peeling off the portion that remains
* Leaves and trees fall onto the panels and, you know, block the sunlight
* The noise from cars and trucks driving over the panels is so loud the speed limit had to be reduced to about 45 miles per hour
* It is generating less than half of the electricity expected because the panels could not be angled directly at the sun and Normandy isn’t exactly known for its year-round sunshine

New ideas certainly need to be tested out but this one has not proved to be very efficient given the costs.

See #^https://jalopnik.com/turns-out-a-road-made-of-solar-panels-was-in-fact-a-b-1837472544

#solarroads #solar #environment
#^Turns Out A Road Made Of Solar Panels Was, In Fact, A Bad Idea

There will be some hiccups on our path to a more environmentally-friendly future. Some hiccups, like exploding electric cars, will be bigger than others. So, I’m willing to excuse France for the very, very predictable failure of their solar panel road.

source https://gadgeteer.co.za/node/3483