36 ms·

The economics of solar panels in roads are horrible, given current technology. Here's an excellent engineering analysis of this exact project: https://www.yout

• meric 11y ago
  I wrote a comment there. Panels on roads, if they can suffer being driven on well, can be economical when rooftop spaces run out. Rooftops are only sufficient for 25% of Netherland's electricity demand. I notice now there is a couple of inaccuracies but they are only minor ones financially. The benefit from saved real estate is too big. Local council governments may have access to its road real estate, but have no legal right to install panels on roofs. Netherland land value, per square meter, is €4,907. There is a local property tax is 0.05% - 0.3%. (http://www.shelteroffshore.com/index.php/property/more/property-tax-expats-in-netherlands-10540 http://www.shelteroffshore.com/index.php/property/more/prope...), and a wealth tax of 1.3% per year. Assuming 1.4% total taxes per square meter, the revenue received by the government is €68 per square meter. Since building the solar panel on the road means they don't have to build solar panels on real estate that can generate tax revenue, the benefit is €10 of generated electricity, plus the €68 of tax revenue that is preserved (assuming all municipal building rooftops are exhausted, already). That makes a payback of €78 per year. In 15 years, this would equate to €1170, compared to building a solar array on free land. The savings would be even greater compared to the local government renting rooftops to place solar panels.