The Future of Solar-Powered Highways: A Bright Solution for Energy
Recent research suggests that the vast network of global roadways could be transformed into significant sources of renewable energy by integrating solar panels directly
Schematic diagram of the highway photovoltaics (PV) system. Roofing highways with solar panels generates green electricity that is delivered to the grid to replace the electricity from fossil fuels, thereby contributing to CO 2 e emission reductions.
We analyze the economic feasibility of developing highway PV worldwide based on LCOE and discover conspicuous spatial variability (Figure 2c). The global LCOE values range from US$44 to US$380 MWh −1, with the majority (56%) in the range of US$60–120 MWh −1 (Figure 2d).
Our analysis reveals that globally deploying highway PV systems across existing highway networks has the potential to generate 17,578 TWh of electricity annually, offsetting nearly 28% of concurrent global carbon emissions.
Achieving the full highway PV potential could offset 28.78% (28.21%–29.1%) of the global total carbon emissions in 2018, prevent approximately 0.15 million road traffic deaths, and reduce US$0.43 ± 0.16 trillion socio-economic burdens per year. Highway PV projects could bring a net return of about US$14.42 ± 4.04 trillion over a 25-year lifetime.
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