The use of abandoned highway sidewalks as a solar farm was the first project implemented on the Ray Highway in Georgia. The plan hailed as a revolution in transportation. By configuring 2600 high-efficiency solar panels, maximize the potential of abandoned land by producing one megawatt of energy.
The use of such land without application to develop the energy infrastructure is a solution to the high energy demand.
One of the main goals of this project is to create a suitable and accessible infrastructure for the future of the transportation industry, which will need more energy due to the rising use of electronic vehicles.
In the United States, there are more than 127500 vacant lots along the roads and highways, which can provide a suitable bed for solar energy development. If the amount of land is using to generate energy, there is a possible production of up to 36 hours (TWh) of electricity.
The solar infrastructure is not only a clean way to produce energy but also an economic incentive. In addition to reducing the cost of energy production and maintenance costs of marginal land, it also creates revenue.
Depending on the situation and area of suitable roadside land, the opportunity to produce 180 million dollars of electricity without carbon production provides by governments.
In addition to using the grounds to develop energy infrastructure, vegetation can be hotbed around panels. Due to their drought resistance, these vegetations help prevent soil erosion and optimize the local climate.
Technology landscape
Ray’s solar innovation is continuing to develop solar power plants on the outskirts of highways. Moreover, during research conducted with the participation of INES (the French National Institute of Solar Energy) and Colas, a plan to set up solar asphalt highways by installing Wattway (a road embedded with solar cells in a frame)has been proposed for clean energy production.
All of these technologies will lead to a better future, more energy, and less carbon production.
