Last November, the Netherlands became the first country to introduce a solar road; today, the project is 10 months old and going strong. The road — a bicycle path used by 150,000 cyclists during its six-month trial period — was installed by SolaRoad. The path is only 70 meters (230 feet) in length, but produces 3,000 kWh, enough electricity to supply power to one household for a year, according to Science Alert’s Fiona Macdonald. In terms of annual productivity, Sten de Wit, SolaRoad’s spokesman, predicted to Al Jazeera’s Tarek Bazley a production value of “more than 70 kWh per square meter per year.”
The project was installed in Krommenie (a town in the province of North Holland). It features solar panels protected by a network of glass, rubber and concrete resilient enough, according to Macdonald, to support the weight of a fire truck (approximately 13 tons) without cracking under the pressure. Developing the panels and protection took five years, and the engineering goes beyond mere durability. Panels are individual, and each can be set to transfer power directly to the grid or streetlights.
“If one panel is broken or in shadow or dirt, it will only switch off that PV panel,” Jan-Hendrik Kremer, a Renewable Energy Systems consultant, told Science Alert. Because of this design, localized damage won’t impair the entire road.
Despite being exposed to greater stress than their rooftop counterparts, the roadway panels have a reported lifespan of at least 20 years.
SolaRoad’s path is not the only solar bike path in the Netherlands, which is also home to a Vincent Van Gogh-inspired path in the town of Eindhoven, which served as a backdrop for Van Gogh’s paintings while he lived there. By day, the trail looks like any other of the numerous bike paths across the Netherlands. By night, it glows in a pattern reminiscent of the artist’s classic painting, “Starry Night.”
The path was designed by artist Daan Roosegaarde. Electricity generated during the daylight hours powers thousands of LED lights at night to create a safer commute for nighttime bikers, at least for the half-mile length of the trail. Roosegaarde’s project opened on November 12 of last year, during commemorations of the 125th anniversary of Van Gogh’s death.
Roosegaarde hopes his artwork will inspire people from all walks of life. “A good project,” he told NPR, “generates new stories.”
That has been the case with another roadway development being planned in the Netherlands. The city of Rotterdam, in conjunction with the construction group VolkerWessels, has hopes of installing plastic roadways repurposed from ocean waste. While this project is still in its infancy, the design promises benefits over traditional asphalt. The removal of asphalt from production and use is suggested, according to the Guardian, to reduce global CO2 emissions by about 1.6 million tons per year.
Plastic roadways, like solar ones, would integrate a series of interlocking segments to allow simple access to sections in need of repair. This same flexibility means that roadways could even be transported to entirely new locations. This application is largely unnecessary for locations like Michigan, but is anticipated to be a plus in especially sandy and boggy terrain common in the Netherlands, according to inhabitat Katie Medlock.
