Solar Panel Paved Roads

In 2014, the Netherlands pioneered the construction and inauguration of the world’s first solar cycle path, a 70 meter long section paved with innovative panels called SolaRoad, technology that converts the sun that lights the road into electricity. Following the potential to develop this technology on a large scale, this year it was the French Government that announced a plan to cover 1,000 kilometers of roads with photovoltaic surface within 5 years. If the program is as promised, it will provide electricity to five million people, 8% of the country’s total population, according to Forbes.

The program, launched by the Minister of the Environment Ségolène Royal with an initial investment of 5 million euros, placed its first “rock” or solar panel in Marseille on March 21. The panels will first be tested this spring on roads of smaller size and circulation, then gradually increase them, before reaching a national scale. The photovoltaic surface to be used, called Wattway, was developed by the French company Colas.