Review - Solar Roof on Roads with Advertisements

**SunEagle** · 05-02-2016, 08:59 AM

Unfortunately any type of solar road way will not work well due to the amount of shading it will get from the vehicles on it or from signs or trees along the way. The cost to install and maintain a solar road way will never pay for the amount of energy is can produce.

**bcroe** · 05-02-2016, 09:46 AM

Every year here I watch roads being pounded to bits under the traffic & weather. We have patches everywhere. Anyone who thinks
the current state of solar collection could work on roads, hasn't begun to think about how a practical system might be built. Bruce Roe

**jflorey2** · 05-02-2016, 06:28 PM

Originally posted by SunEagle

Unfortunately any type of solar road way will not work well due to the amount of shading it will get from the vehicles on it or from signs or trees along the way. The cost to install and maintain a solar road way will never pay for the amount of energy is can produce.

Well, vehicle shade won't be much of an issue; most roads in America are empty 99% of the time if you look at any one point along the road. However, shade from trees etc will be a big issue.

I've never really understood the desire to put PV _in_ roads. If you really want to install PV on highways, put them overhead. You get the benefits of shading/protection from the elements, it's easy to get access to install them and you save on snow removal costs. And no 18-wheelers will be driving on them.

**Sunking** · 05-02-2016, 07:35 PM

Absolutely nothing GREEN about Off-Grid silly. It is a Big Fat Lie. The system will never generate more electricity than it takes to makes all the equipment. It takes a lot of power to make batteries and replace them every couple of years. Off Grid also requires a generator. So much for your idea.

More jobs. Get Real. Yeah more jobs in China and putting high paying utility jobs out of work. Who taught you that garbage.

**SunEagle** · 05-02-2016, 08:25 PM

Originally posted by jflorey2

Well, vehicle shade won't be much of an issue; most roads in America are empty 99% of the time if you look at any one point along the road. However, shade from trees etc will be a big issue.

I've never really understood the desire to put PV _in_ roads. If you really want to install PV on highways, put them overhead. You get the benefits of shading/protection from the elements, it's easy to get access to install them and you save on snow removal costs. And no 18-wheelers will be driving on them.

Over the roads make more sense the "being the road".

One thing most people forget when I talk about what "shade" is. A roadway gets a lot of tire wear as well as dirt, oil, bird crap, etc. All that will be on the road and it all blocks an amount of sun that will be a lot more than what gets on over head mounted panels.

And as you noted add to that dirt with the continuous pounding of the vehicles. IMO that road surface will start to get deformation and breakage. Shutting down a road to repair it is hard when it is made of what we have now. Fixing a high tech structure will require more road blockage and much higher costs to repair.

**J.P.M.** · 05-03-2016, 12:10 AM

Originally posted by jflorey2

Well, vehicle shade won't be much of an issue; most roads in America are empty 99% of the time if you look at any one point along the road. However, shade from trees etc will be a big issue.

I've never really understood the desire to put PV _in_ roads. If you really want to install PV on highways, put them overhead. You get the benefits of shading/protection from the elements, it's easy to get access to install them and you save on snow removal costs. And no 18-wheelers will be driving on them.

How about this: Dig up the road bed, lower the road surface 30 ft. or so and cover it with solar arrays at surface level + 5 feet or so for side access. Then add mass transit above/below/along side (in the trench). Might make the design a bit easier for external loads closer to the ground and give a bunch of dirt pushers a new make work project.

**SunEagle** · 05-03-2016, 08:47 AM

Originally posted by erashish14

Hi All,

Kindly check the thought & visit the blog Once, its not on roads, its about placing solar panel over/above/overhead roads (overcome shade & land issue) with advertisements at side of the road (overcome funds issue),

Kindly let me know, how much this will cost for placing solar panels above road of width (10 meter) & length (1KM).

lightenmyways[dot]blogspot[dot]com or google for "Solar Roof on Roads with Rain Water Harvesting System & Advertisements".

The cost would could vary greatly depending on the amount of road that is flat and straight or winding and hilly.

Solar panels generate their highest output when they are pointed directly at the sun with includes both the compass direction (South is best) and angle which also varies from Summer (lower angle) to Winter (higher angle) depending on how high the sun tracks across the sky.

**erashish14** · 05-05-2016, 07:23 AM

Hi,

Kindly let me know, the demerits or limitation of this thought !!!

**SunEagle** · 05-05-2016, 09:45 AM

Originally posted by erashish14

Hi,

Kindly let me know, the demerits or limitation of this thought !!!

If a solar panel is not facing the sun at the most opportune angle it does not generate anywhere close to it's name plate wattage rating. Add in shade or anything else that reduces the amount of usable sunlight getting to the panel and the production % can drop to 0. Installing equipment to point the panel at the sun is very expensive and makes the cost to generate power go up. And finally when you consider the length of the electrical system to move the power generated by these panels across miles of roadway can only increases the losses thru voltage drops as well as the costs for an installation like that.

Considering the cost of an Engineered array that can "tracks the sun" across the sky located in the South West desert of the US where there isn't any shade and it gets the best sunlight available will still be more expensive to generate electrical power then a natural gas fueled plant. That would make if very hard to justify installing panels along a road way.

**jflorey2** · 05-05-2016, 12:03 PM

Originally posted by SunEagle

And finally when you consider the length of the electrical system to move the power generated by these panels across miles of roadway can only increases the losses thru voltage drops as well as the costs for an installation like that.

I'd call that an advantage. Roads go to towns, villages and cities, and many already have utilities strung along them. Compare that to a Southwest desert that needs a new transmission line put in.

**SunEagle** · 05-05-2016, 12:52 PM

Originally posted by jflorey2

I'd call that an advantage. Roads go to towns, villages and cities, and many already have utilities strung along them. Compare that to a Southwest desert that needs a new transmission line put in.

Yeah but while that High Voltage transmission line takes up a lot of real estate it really only has a few transformers at each end and can handle a lot more power.

While a roadway system would require many more transformers and gear to connect them together. It would also require much bigger cables to handle the kind of power being generated then what is pushed through those wires you currently see along a road way.

Those short pole grid systems are at a voltage that is maybe in the 15kv range while a HV transmission is closer to 600kv. You can run a lot more power for much longer distanced with lower losses using the 600kv HV system then a 15kv medium voltage distribution system. It still would be very expensive to install and maintain along a road way.

**erashish14** · 05-06-2016, 01:21 AM

Originally posted by SunEagle

If a solar panel is not facing the sun at the most opportune angle it does not generate anywhere close to it's name plate wattage rating. Add in shade or anything else that reduces the amount of usable sunlight getting to the panel and the production % can drop to 0. Installing equipment to point the panel at the sun is very expensive and makes the cost to generate power go up

These Panels will be at Top of the road, so opportune angle available for these panels will be 360 degree, you can place it at any angle to get maximum output & chances of shades are nil,

Initial cost may be high but that too is covered via Advertisements.

**SunEagle** · 05-06-2016, 12:42 PM

Originally posted by erashish14

These Panels will be at Top of the road, so opportune angle available for these panels will be 360 degree, you can place it at any angle to get maximum output & chances of shades are nil,

Initial cost may be high but that too is covered via Advertisements.

You would also have to reinforce all of that racking system so the panels could handle the local wind loads and not fly off.

The idea to use the "right of way" to install solar pv sounds like a good idea and may be sometime in the future. As of now there are a lot easier (and lower cost) places to install solar pv that will be first in line. Maybe if some areas run out of usable "space" then the roadway "right of way" might be the best place to install pv.

**jflorey2** · 05-06-2016, 01:46 PM

Originally posted by SunEagle

Those short pole grid systems are at a voltage that is maybe in the 15kv range while a HV transmission is closer to 600kv.

Right, but rural systems typically run at higher distribution voltages (35kV or so.) due to greater distances involved - and rural roads would be a primary target for such projects. And the loads will be distributed as well, so the end of the power line run need only carry the worst case difference between generation and load.

In large systems like this it would make more economic sense for the inverters to drive to the distribution voltage (~35kV) rather than end customer voltages (240/480V.)

Review - Solar Roof on Roads with Advertisements

Review - Solar Roof on Roads with Advertisements

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment