Environment

PV power hits the road in Normandy village

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The Wattway panels running through Tourouvre are expected to produce somewhere in the region of 280 MWh of electricity per annum
French Minister for the Environment, Energy and Sea Ségolène Royal holding one of the Wattway solar road panels
An information display alongside the solar road powered by the PV array will provide locals with electricity production updates, as well as a running total figure
The Wattway panels running through Tourouvre are expected to produce somewhere in the region of 280 MWh of electricity per annum
French Minister for the Environment, Energy and Sea Ségolène Royal at the Wattway project inauguration in the Normandy village of Tourouvre
Colas/Yves Soulabaille
2,880 photovoltaic panels have been installed between the south exit of Route RD5 at Tourouvre to where it meets the N12 at le Gué-à-Pont for the Wattway trial
Stéphanie Chaumont
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The Solar Roadways project in the US may have successfully installed electricity-producing panels in a parking lot and a town square, but bigger things are happening on the other side of the Atlantic. The French Minister for the Environment, Energy and Sea, Ségolène Royal, has today officially launched a kilometer long solar road project in Normandy. Nearly 3,000 Wattway panels running through a small village in north-west France are expected to produce an average of 767 kWh of electricity per day, peaking in summer months to as much as 1,500 kWh.

Some 2,880 photovoltaic panels have been installed between the south exit of Route RD5 at Tourouvre to where it meets the N12 at le Gué-à-Pont for the Wattway trial. Each panel has been designed to withstand the punishment of regular road traffic and can be linked to electrical equipment and networks.

The installation is expected to produce somewhere in the region of 280 MWh of electricity each year, and an information display alongside the solar road powered by the PV array will provide locals with electricity production updates, as well as a running total figure. The electricity produced will be fed into the network operated by Enedis.

2,880 photovoltaic panels have been installed between the south exit of Route RD5 at Tourouvre to where it meets the N12 at le Gué-à-Pont for the Wattway trial
Stéphanie Chaumont

"This trial site has enabled us to improve our photovoltaic panels installing process as well as their manufacturing, in order to keep on optimizing our innovation," said Wattway's Jean-Charles Broizat.

According to The Local, the state-funded project cost €5 million to construct and will undergo testing for the next two years, which will see around 2,000 motorists driving over the panels every day.

Source: Wattway by Colas

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4 comments
Milton
Well at least it's a trial, so when it falls on its face they can get smart and just install panels on rooftops or walkway coverings.
Gizmowiz
So what happens when an accident occurs above the roadway and sharp steel auto parts 'gouge' holes in the grid? Does the whole thing short out and fry itself?
watersworm
Mrs Royale (a republican ! mother of 4 president Hollande's children ) our beloved fantasy minister loves expensing public finances of France (well known to be so, so healthy) on so-called "energy transition" projects. When she was the president of western Poitou-Charentes region she acted the same, leaving wtih disastrous finances. So, the only important thing is to make the medias talk about all this (I'm speaking about "solar roads"). France is producing more than enough electricity (net exporter), with its nuclear plants plus hydroelecticity dams; Nevertheless, because it is not "ecologicaly approved" they thought that deploying the most strange technologies will save the Plant (in 2100, of course). Goal achieved : the medias speak about all round the world. Is it smart ? efficient ? cash-earning ? job(net) creating ? No matter ; it is "energy transition" (self) approved.
amazed W1
No iron shod horses or iron tyred carts, and definitely no spiky tyred tractors allowed. Is there a prize for designing the new road sign this needs?