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First Solar Bike Path in Germany Is Now Live
- realPubkey 3y agoCost was about 1 million € [1] [1] https://efahrer.chip.de/news/geniales-pilotprojekt-ist-fertig-freiburg-hat-jetzt-einen-solar-radweg_1010255 https://efahrer.chip.de/news/geniales-pilotprojekt-ist-ferti...
- jbullock35 3y agoIs that a lot, relative to what the solar panels provide?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ta1243 3y agoYes, about 3 times the price of a rooftop install, which aren't exactly the cheapest way to do solar
- senko 3y ago300m long, 287kW, or 1 kW/m. At ~€1m total price, it's about 3500€/kW, which is roughly 2-3 times the equivalent rooftop solar price (but this likely includes paving the bike path, frame structure, etc).
- stefncb 3y agoAnd this doesn't count the fact that you're providing shade for cyclists as well. I wonder how expensive it would've been to make a simple roof just for shade; I imagine your value per meter goes up significantly considering that.
- jacquesm 3y agoIt may help (or hinder) snow removal too.
- usrusr 3y agoGiven Freiburg weather that's a definitive "help". It's not like they get huge snowdrifts accumulating over months that need to get cut away or anything like that.
- Baxxter 3y agoWhew - that is ugly. I am a bike commuter and one of the great things about riding a bike is having the sky above my head. This is kind of a vibe killer. I can see the benefits but I think a little more thought in the design could help us understand if this is something we really want. How long is this stretch anyway?
- stefncb 3y ago300 meters. https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/04/28/germanys-first-photovoltaic-cycling-path-goes-online/ https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/04/28/germanys-first-photov...
- ianpurton 3y agoI can already imagine people lining up to get the best time on strava.
- cinntaile 3y agoI agree. They really need to consider the design aspect here, driving under what looks like scaffolding doesn't feel very nice.
- tuukkah 3y ago> having the sky above my head Like they say, get a little relief from the sun. The elements will become harsher and harsher with the climate crisis.
- larrydag 3y agoWhen structures like this is built is a lifetime cost taken into account? I'm wondering if after a while it's going to fail or prove too expensive to maintain.
- pxmpxm 3y agoDoes this make any economic sense versus a dedicated solar farm in low cost of land / high sun density area?
- JoeAltmaier 3y agoAbsolutely not. It's a terrible idea, solar roads.
- pxmpxm 3y agoSolar roadways was the first thing that popped into my mind when I read the headline.
- rapnie 3y agoThat was a thing in the Netherlands in 2014/2015. Didn't hear much about it since. https://www.sciencealert.com/solar-roads-in-the-netherlands-are-working-even-better-than-expected https://www.sciencealert.com/solar-roads-in-the-netherlands-...
- ta1243 3y agoThis is somewhat better than solar roads, as you're not driving over the panel with multi-ton vehicles multiple times a minute. It's far less use than solar over an open car park roof though.
- DemocracyFTW2 3y agoI must criticize this on the grounds that it is ugly, but then almost everything that is built these days is ugly. Secondly, what genius decided to make it a flat roof? Flat surfaces are the absolute worst both in capturing the most sunlight in temperate latitudes and in terms of dirt and snow removal. Even a 45° angle would mean a lot of the dust, leaves and snow will just tumble down or get washed down by the next rain, whereas flat surfaces are literally encrusted within months.
- high_priest 3y agoWelcome to publicly funded projects, where the biggest factor is, who can build it cheapest.
- jacquesm 3y agoSeconded. I have a bunch of panels at a very low angle (12 degrees) due to siting constraints and they foul up pretty quickly. And that's already much better than what's in TFA.
- usrusr 3y agoI wonder how much a few simple maintenance bots could help, basically a solar roomba that opportunistically travels along the roof, zig-zagging as far in a day as much or little in a day as it's energy supply allows. Something like that clearly can't work for a small installation, but when a city has a network of roofed bike paths, you'd expect first glimpses of economy of scale. Could nicely hit a sweet spot between doable, futuristic, real-life utility and not served by commercial offerings for a university project.
- tbe-stream 3y agoInteresting, but... Apart from the fact that this prototype is very ugly, some limitations come to mind. - Maintenance without blocking the bike lane. Does this require a separate access road? - Will this work when any trees are nearby? Falling branches are likely to cause damage and block the sun. - How does this work when buildings are nearby? You will block all the light? I'm having trouble imaging how this will look good in a more dense area - not the mention the extra width required on the sides of the bike path will be hard to get where space is at a premium (cities). All this seems to point to a rather limited use case: bike lanes in places with few buildings and few trees, and sufficient spacing around the structure to facilitate maintenance access. That presumably means: in sparse industrial zones near edges of cities (as pictured, I suppose). Which leads to another question: how many sparse industrial zones in Germany actually have bike 4m wide bike paths?
- dzogchen 3y ago> Which leads to another question: how many sparse industrial zones in Germany actually have bike 4m wide bike paths? The answer is: no where. You are spot on and this is just a gimmick. https://goo.gl/maps/Pj2mQM5CvsrPFGFx6?coh=178572&entry=tt https://goo.gl/maps/Pj2mQM5CvsrPFGFx6?coh=178572&entry=tt
- tbe-stream 3y agoI had to chuckle at the huge surface parking lot right next to it.
- avereveard 3y agoIt's because this project has a completely different use case with very different requirement: Design with almost no actual research budget Buildable with contractors and off the shelf components Aligned with local research grants
- jacquesm 3y agoFunny, this looks just like the covered area I built outside my home in the last couple of months (though obviously, it is much larger). https://imgur.com/a/ImWKbLo https://imgur.com/a/ImWKbLo (no idea where the idiotic warning comes from it is definitely SFW).
- xg15 3y agoThere was also a news report about a swimming solar field on the surface of a lake a few days ago. Interesting that one of the major "innovations" in solar tech now seems to be political - i.e. finding spaces where PV can be installed without bothering anyone. Still, it paints an interesting picture that no government would care about angry residents or potential alternative uses when building a road or prospecting for oil or coal (remember the Hambach and Lützerath events in Germany where entire villages were cleared because there was coal to strip mine). Meanwhile, for wind we're still debating whether the safety zone to the next inhabitated building should be 1km or 2km...
- throwaway3b03 3y agoThis is much smarter than what they did in the Netherlands, where the panels are literally underneath the bike path, so bikes ride on them. They are constantly covered in filth and are not running anywhere close to their full capacity, irrespective of weather.
- qxfys 3y agoOne of the reasons why I bike to work every day is to get some DIRECT light from the sun. Many kinds of research have shown the positive sides of it. If I live in a hotter (and humid?) place, i.e., middle-east or SEA, I would love the idea. But, to have that in a colder place, i.e., nordic, I'll make sure to pick other routes without the shades. :-)
- Valgrim 3y agoIf the top image of the article is real, then I guess illumination would'nt be a major problem, especially in the morning and evening when the sun is low.
- qxfys 3y agoAs the summer period is finally here, the sun rises super early in the morning and sets late, around 8/9 pm. That is already outside my commuting schedule, if I may argue. :-)
- LittleNemoInS 3y agoThey are building something similar in Geneva (Switzerland), but it's a little bit nicer : https://ww2.sig-ge.ch/actualites/un-projet-innovant-de-pistes-cyclables-solaires https://ww2.sig-ge.ch/actualites/un-projet-innovant-de-piste... The result is quite similar to the CGI, but not finished yet. The length is 200m, as it is a PoC.
- jkmcf 3y agoI live on the Front Range in Colorado where we have the Santa Fe trail, almost entirely without tree cover. The sun is brutal here at 6500+ feet, and I would use this every day if it were available since there aren't many bike paths with protection from the sun.