Solaroad commisioned in two Provinces

On 7 March, a total of 150 metres of SolaRoad was  put into use at two locations in the provinces of North and South Holland. The strips of solar road deck are laid out on the parallel road along the N232 in the Haarlemmermeer (North Holland) and on the bus lane along the N218 near Spijkenisse (South Holland). Both provinces will gain experience with the management and maintenance of solar road surfaces. According to the manufacturer, this is an important step towards a large-scale application of SolaRoad. In this system, solar panels are integrated into the road surface. It is the first time that energy will be extracted from our road network on such a scale in the Netherlands. Currently, the expected electricity yield per 100 meters of solar road surface is approximately 30,000 kWh per year. This energy can be used for, for example, road lighting, traffic installations, electric cars and households. According to the initiators, if a third of the total Dutch road network (140,000 km) would consist of solar road surfaces in the future, nine million cars could be powered from the SolaRoad system.
SolaRoad is a development of TNO, the province of Noord-Holland, Ooms Civiel (now part of Strukton) and Imtech Traffic & Infra (now Dynniq).

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