The idea of paving roads with solar panels has started entering real world trials. France plans to do 1,000km of road, the Netherlands did a 70m solar road, and Solar Roadways wants to do the same thing in the US.
I really like the theory, we’ve got large areas that are getting paved anyway, why not have them generate power at the same time. But it isn’t until you deploy it in the real world, for long periods of time, that you discover all of the various issues that can come up. Maintenance work is a big deal, think of how often roads are re-paved.
I’m excited to see these test systems go live. That is how we’ll learn about their weaknesses ( and how to fix them ) and their strengths.
You could say this is where the rubber meets the ( solar ) road.