SolaRoad is what this solar-powered bike lane is called, named by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). It is the result of a collaboration among the private sector, government, and academia.
The world's first solar-powered bike lane will officially open to the public of Netherlands on November in Krommenie, a town northwest of Amsterdam, as 230 feet long (pilot project) but will be stretch up to 328 feet when done.
It is made up of rows of crystalline silicon solar cells, which were embedded into the concrete of the path and covered with a translucent layer of tempered glass. So riders will be able to hop on at one end and then.
The solar cells are fitted in SolaRoad in one travelling direction below a tempered glass top layer which is approximately 1-cm thick. There are no solar cells on the other side of the road and this is used to test several top layers.
The surface of the road has been treated with a special non-adhesive coating, and the road itself was built to sit at a slight tilt in an effort to keep dust and dirt from accumulating and obscuring the solar cells.
Since the path cannot be adjusted to the position of the sun, the panels will produce approximately 30 percent less energy than those placed on roofs. But, the road is tilted slightly to aid water run-off and achieve a better angle to the sun.
Despite of many problems, Dr. Sten de Wit from SolaRoad, the consortium behind the project, envisions that solar roads could eventually be used to power the electric vehicles that use them.
"Electric vehicles are on the rise, but are not really a substitute until the electricity they use is generated in a sustainable way. Roads can generate power right where it is needed," de Wit explains in a publication for the contract research organisation TNO.
"Sensors gathering information about traffic circulation can help improve traffic management, or even allow automatic vehicle guidance," de Wit added.
Soon, this €3 million (AUD$4.3 million) SolaRoad will be used for practical applications in street lighting, traffic systems, electric cars that drive on the surface and households.
