The Solar Roadway™ is a series of structurally-engineered solar panels that are driven upon. The idea is to replace all current petroleum-based asphalt roads, parking lots, and driveways with Solar Road Panels™ that collect and store solar energy to be used by our homes and businesses. The heart of the Solar Roadway™ is the Solar Road Panel™. Each individual panel consists of three basic layers:
Road Surface Layer - Translucent and high-strength, it is rough enough to provide great traction, yet still passes sunlight through to the solar collector cells. It is capable of handling today's heaviest loads under the worst of conditions. Weatherproof, it protects the electronics layer beneath it.
Electronics Layer - Contains a large array of cells, the bulk of which will contain solar collecting cells with LEDs for "painting" the road surface. These cells also contain the "Super" or "Ultra" caps that store the sun's energy for later use. Since each Solar Road Panel™ manages its own electricity generation, storage, and distribution, they can heat themselves in northern climates to eliminate snow and ice accumulation. The on-board microprocessor controls lighting, communications, monitoring, etc. With a communications device every 12 feet, the Solar Roadway™ is an intelligent highway system.
Base Plate Layer - While the electronics layer collects and stores the energy from the sun, it is the base plate layer that distributes power (collected from the electronics layer) and data signals (phone, TV, internet, etc.) "downline" to all homes and businesses connected to the Solar Roadway™. The power and data signals are passed through each of the four sides of the base plate layer. Like the top road surface layer, this layer is also weatherproof, offering protection to the electronics layer above it.
When multiple Solar Road Panels™ are interconnected, the Solar Roadway™, an intelligent, self-healing, decentralised (secure) power grid, is formed.
Scott Brusaw is an electrical engineer (MSEE) with over 20 years of industry experience, including serving as the Director of Research and Development at a manufacturing facility in Ohio. He is a voting member of NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) and has developed several networked control systems from the ground up. Scott and his wife Julie have worked on the concept of a Solar Roadway™ System for countless hours and are now looking for funding to get the concept off (or better still, in) the ground. In this exclusive interview with Renewable Energy Magazine, Scott discusses his concept and where the Solar Roadway™ will go next.
Interview date: November, 2009
Interviewer: Toby Price
Hi Scott. To kick off our interview, could you please give us an idea of what impact your Solar Roadway™ System could have in terms of energy generation, carbon dioxide emission avoidance, cost saving, etc.?
If we were allowed to cover the 25,000 square miles of asphalt surfaces in the US (roads, parking lots, and driveways), then our calculations show that we could produce three times more electricity than the US has ever used. This would replace coal-fired plants, which produce over half of the carbon dioxide emissions in the US. A nationwide system of electric roads would also make the all-electric (EV) vehicle practical – they could recharge anywhere. Our hope is that car owners will begin trading in their internal combustion engines for EVs. We would then produce even less carbon dioxide and our dependency upon oil would begin to decline.
My understanding is that the costs of road construction materials have risen 500% over the past five years. Our current road system consists primarily of petroleum-based asphalt, which just bakes under the sun and gives nothing back. The Solar Roadways will pay for themselves through the generation of electricity and by leasing conduit to utilities such as telephone, high-speed internet, and cable TV companies. Imagine no more need for utility poles, overhead wires, or underground cables.
I am aware that you have just received a €69,000 contract from the US Department of Transportation to prototype the first ever Solar Road Panel™. When do you envisage the prototype will be ready and what do you hope to achieve from testing?
Our deadline is 12 February 2010. The idea of a Phase I contract is to convince your audience (in this case, the USDOT) of the feasibility of your idea(s). Normally, you don’t actually build anything for phase I: you have experts write papers and try to convince your audience that it can be done. Since we already know that we can build it, we decided to just prove it by building a crude prototype to actually show feasibility.
If successful, we’ll be eligible for Phase II funding: an additional $750,000 over a two year period to develop Solar Road Panels for parking lots. The idea is to learn all of our lessons in parking lots (think slow-moving light-weight vehicles) before moving out onto public roads.
Would it be possible to apply your concept to other areas of structural engineering? I am thinking about bridges, building walls, etc. being made with Solar Road Panels™.
I don’t see why not. We’re already receiving inquiries about runways, play grounds, tennis courts, bike paths, etc., and I don’t see any reason that the Solar Road Panels can’t also fit these requirements.
The Idaho National Laboratory recently announced that it had developed a new form of nanoantenna solar panel that converts infrared light into energy. I could imagine this technology being smoothly integrated into the Solar Roadways concept. Have you been in touch with the Idaho National Laboratory or any other research organisation involved in nanotechnologies to exploit possible synergies?
Yes, and we are planning a visit with them in the upcoming year. They claim that their solar panels work at night, have obtained 80% efficiency, and cost less than traditional solar panels.
The US Government is clearly encouraging R&D in clean energy technologies, especially as an antidote to the recession by assigning millions in Recovery Act funding. Have you as a start-up noticed the trickle-down effect of this new approach?
I’m pretty sure that that is where our contract came from. We visited the US Department of Transportation in the spring of 2008. At that time, they had no money for such investments. When the new administration took office, funding was suddenly available, so here we are.
BBC World recently interviewed you about the Solar Roadway™ concept. Have you seen any interest in your project from the UK Government or any other governments around the world?
Yes, we’ve been getting inquiries from all over the world. Not from governments, but from companies that wish to manufacture and/or distribute our product to their countries or continents.
Where do you expect the Solar Roadway™ concept to be in five years from now? What do you need to reach this objective?
God willing, we’ll be paving roads with Solar Road Panels. We currently need about $40 million to finish development of the panels that will eventually be used on the highway. They’ll have to be far stronger than the panels we’ll build for parking lots.
Do you have any more innovative concepts under your thinking cap at the moment?
The wheels never stop turning! Right now however, we need to focus our full attention on the Solar Roadways.
Finally, have any other novel products or concepts in the clean energy space especially attracted your attention recently which you think our readers would be interested in hearing about?
We’re looking into piezoelectric and thermoelectric devices to incorporate into our Solar Road Panels. They both produce electricity in the dark, so we’re hoping they’ll augment the lack of solar energy at night. Unless, of course, the Idaho National Laboratory comes through.
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