A solar highway uses special solar panels on roads to create clean energy from the sun. It helps save power and makes better use of space Over the past two years, solar power has radically accelerated in popularity, feasibility and affordability in a way that has not been seen since the first ever practical photovoltaics were attached to sleeping satellites.
This has been really important not only to provide panel and battery solutions to allow people to substantially slice their energy bills but also to reduce reliance on fossil fuels for energy and power.
With greater commitments towards a rooftop solar-powered revolution and photovoltaic panels that are only getting more efficient, the future is bright for solar power and its place in UK power generation.
However, some researchers are taking this even further, looking into the potential of turning the roads of the world into a way to generate nearly two-thirds of the power the world needs.
What is a Solar Highway?
A solar highway is a road covered with solar panels that capture sunlight and turn it into electricity. It uses space on the road to produce clean energy.
How Does a Solar Highway Work?
Solar panels are placed on the surface of the road or beside it. These panels collect sunlight during the day and change it into power we can use for homes, street lights, or cars.
Benefits of Solar Highways
Solar highways help save energy and reduce pollution. They use space that usually goes unused and provide clean, renewable power without harming the environment.
Challenges of Solar Highways
Solar highways need strong, special materials to handle traffic and weather. They can be expensive to build but may save money in the long run with energy savings.
The Global Solar Highway
Published in the journal Earth’s Future, the study by Hou Jiang, Ning Lu and Jun Quin et al explores the potential energy benefits of placing roofs on the various highways of the world fitted with solar panels.
The concept has been explored with some EV charging parks, which feature solar-panelled roofs to protect cars from the sun and generate some of the power being used to charge the cars parked there.
The solar roof highway concept would take this significantly further, and the ambitious plan to cover 3.2m kilometres of motorways, highways and autobahn stretches with PV panels would be amongst the biggest global infrastructure projects ever attempted.
However, the benefits would be that, according to the research team, as much as 17,578 TWh (terawatt-hours) could be generated over the course of a year, which would equate to over 60 per cent of the energy consumption in the world in 2023.
The natural consequence of this is that global carbon emissions could be reduced by 28 per cent in one fell swoop, aiding efforts to reduce global temperatures and one of the biggest contributors to climate change.
A fascinating side effect of this, however, is that road traffic accidents would be significantly reduced, simply by the rooftop panels protecting cars from rain, snow and hail, which can affect traction and cause potentially fatal accidents.
The act of creating a roof, even if that is not its primary purpose, would according to their estimates reduce deaths due to road accidents by nearly 11 per cent, which equates to over 145,000 fewer deaths on the road each year.
Of course, all of this is the theory. In practice, whilst pilot schemes have been incredibly effective, deploying this at such a scale as to cover 3.2m kilometres of road will have both a financial and carbon cost. Deployed at scale, the benefits would be offset for at least a year, even if the long-term benefits would make up for this.
It would change how roads are maintained and likely require a very serious look into how solar panels can be maintained at scale quickly, and it requires the displacement of coal and gas power plants, which means not only mass deployment of panels but also of battery storage plants.
The fact this is even being discussed, however, only serves to highlight just how much progress has been made so quickly in the field of solar energy.
