Electronics360: "Wattway: A Photovoltaic Road"

I have always talked about how it would be marvelous if someone could design a way to efficiently accomplish this.

Another idea I have always had and, something that could be run even from this photo-voltaic grid is a series of wires similar to those used in the rear windows of automobiles to defrost the rear window. I have always felt that if a grid like that were to be installed in the construction of the highways that it could be used for the purpose of melting off the ice and snow as it happened in areas where that is a problem thus cutting reducing or possibly eliminating the use of snow plowing equipment and corrosive salt on the highways.

Of course there would then be a need to come up with a way to run the water from off of the highway so that it would not become a problem.

This is an excellent start though and one that I would like to see more of in the future.

@DarrylS I have always talked about how it would be marvelous if someone could design a way to efficiently accomplish this. ...

It has already been done, and this is NOT it!

To efficiently use expensive solar panels, you want them oriented to the sun, and never covered by shade. And you certainly don't want to drive vehicles over them! Everything about these "Solar Road" approaches are backwards - it adds expense and reduces efficiency and creates reliability problems for no reason. Triple-lose.

Simply mount large installations of solar panels on the flat roofs of commercial sized buildings. Mount them at the optimal angle, which you can't do with a flat road. They won't have the sun blocked by cars driving over them, they won't need to withstand the weight and wear of traffic.

@DarrylS This is an excellent start though...

No! It should end here! This is the wrong way to do solar! Anyone who wants to see more solar should plead to end these silly things, it gives solar a bad name.

@DarrylS ... a series of wires similar to those used in the rear windows of automobiles to defrost the rear window. ... it could be used for the purpose of melting off the ice and snow ... cutting reducing or possibly eliminating the use of snow plowing equipment and corrosive salt on the highways.

Actually, that is sometimes used for limited areas like sidewalks or drives approaching a building entrance, where keeping it clear is more important than cost. And it has been experimented with for some short stretches of steep, icy roads (some place in WA state IIRC). But it takes vast amounts of electrical power to melt even an inch of snow, and those panels won't be producing power during a snowstorm. Plowing is much cheaper, probably more effective, outside of maybe a few niche application. Try doing the math on taking 4" of snow (roughly 2~4 # per sq foot), on a mile of 2 lane highway through its melting point, which takes ~ 144 BTU per pound, or 42 watt-hours. And factor in large heat losses (it's not like you can insulate that snow as you melt it). Well, let's see (assuming zero heat loss):

24' wide * 5280 feet = 126,720 sq feet

times 3#/sq foot = 380,160 # of snow

times 42 watt hours to melt it , which is ~ 16 Mega-Watt-Hours. Before considering losses. For reference, a mid sized home in the US uses ~ 1 MWHr for an entire month.

A snowplow would probably use less than a gallon of gas for those 2 miles of roadway - and that is ~ 32 kWh. For easy math, assume half the energy is lost in heating the snow to melt it (probably much more), that makes the snowplow 1000x more efficient! And that assumes you could have 16 Mega-Watts available, per mile, during a snowstorm!