These are the new ones mentioned. Vijfhuizen Noord-Holland 52.36920797244019, 4.701770451860774 (it isn't build yet on the google images) Oirschot Brabant 51.49314962427526, 5.307194512498644
During all that talking about the Netherlands it seems you have missed the BEST news! SolaRoad, the company behind the solar cyclepath in Maartensdijk, the "longest in the Netherlands", that produced only 1/4 of the predicted output, has gone OUT OF BUSINESS! The poor director blames the 1/4 result on "trees along the bikepath that gave shade and dirt". Yeah, surely these weren't there when they constructed the solar path. And, as you also saw in the other example, the typical Dutch road with bikepath almost always has trees along it. Now that there is no more backing from the company, he says that "should not affect the trial as the path will provide electricity for the coming years"... Well, we will have to see that. I think it will be demolished before next summer.
I swear our country only creates brain dead morons in schools that are only good in exploitation and corruption, because through their contacts and knowing a guy that knows a guy in government or other high place they get to execute this type of crap on tax payers money. The Netherlands is the most corrupt country on the face of this Earth. It seems all well on the surface but all the crap is done through backdoor deals. As we also like to call them... these are "prestige projects". It'll look good on someone's resume but it won't add anything but a heavier load on the tax payer.
What a cluster f, guy who ran the company said he spend 1 day a week on it. Just did a mayor cash grab. And he went bust because the government stopped funding his bs.
I would say for sure trees are better than a solar freaking cycleway... for safety, comfort, and for the environment. A bad businessman blames the competition or something like that? For being better than him at everything?
Trees along a bike path? That's so sad for the guy who commented he'd be afraid of running into those canopy posts. He'd never be able to bike in the Netherlands unless he gets over his fears with all those trees...
The solar cycle path closest to me in Krommenie (the Netherlands) is being replaced by a regular cycle path because of all the problems it had. There was a piece about it in a local paper last week on January 3th It's in Dutch but if you google '' de orkaan, de stekker uit Solaroad'' it's the first article. With a translator you could probably read it
wise words mr. Bakker. maybe tell Kocken about the 300m bike path that generates 280kw peak in freiburg by just not driving on it. "That the commercial application was the problem seems to be contrary to the facts: the ‘innovation’ itself was the problem." also for just 1million instead of 5million, it is rare that i can be proud of my government doing something right :P
Imagine, like, if they'd just put it on top of a canopy so bike riders have protection from the rain as they cycle around. We could call it, like, solar roofway or something.
Interesting idea. I had another thought. It’s a long shot, but the panels might prevent sunlight from passing through them, thereby keeping the sunlight out of the riders eyes. It might be more comfortable even when it’s not raining
@@floodo1they don’t have to be. That one Dave showed is definitely how you doing. And that’s not a goal that needs billions on dollars, I saw someone complain about “colliding” with the supports. That just goes to show you how stupid cyclists are. All this could be fixed with a first year engineer lmao in a year max. But oh “that’s too much work” lmao okay what’s 10 years on this then 💀💀💀
Schools are there (in the Netherlands at least) to make their students brain dead. They are taught to do a trick but they also get their own brain switched off. You could basically call them zombies from an Idiocracy.
Whenever projects that are known to fail are publicly funded, there's two questions that immediately come to mind: 1) are the ministers who approved it actually that stupid? and 2) how much of a kickback are they getting for funding this nonsense?
These projects are not approved by ministers, they are done in lower ranks of the public authority, like provinces and municipalities. The problems is that these ranks get a task and budget to promote and implement renewable energy. So they have a couple of million in their pockets burning to get spent. Combine that with greedy companies (and even approval/testing institutes) who do not mind getting money for things they know will not work, and you have a disaster waiting to happen. It is not like this is the only field where this problem occurs! It happens in healthcare and childcare as well.
@@Rob2 So many layers of governance are complicit. From EU-level 'sustainability funds' and national funds, to provinces and municipalities... Perhaps it is not the minister that signs off on such projects, but I would wager at least a few dozen civil servants were involved in each one. They should all be found incapable of their job.
thinking these people are stupid might be what they want you to believe, they do it for publicity and ideological purity, they don't care about outcomes. Why would they care ? there's virtually no check and balances.
@@i.k.8868 The EU that are killing farmers because for the EU they pollute too much... only to import farming products from South America that doesn't have to follow env and social norms that EU farmers have to follow. In the future we will have milk from NZ.... how dumb this is.
Side note: Politicians are selected by the people and not by engineers or scientists. You will always have politicians with a lack of understanding in many areas, even in the area where they make important decisions. A fix to this would be that more engineers and scientists become politicians or more politically active. But in my experience, engineers rather want to rant about politicians than actually do something and scientists are usually poor public speakers.
Unfortunately, the Monorail Man has many disguises... Who can resist that irresistible combination of "sustainability" and "this could put our town on the map"? After all, it's only the taxpayers' money being thrown away...
@@edgarwalk5637 LOL, that is nothing! Here in Utrecht we spent over €500m on a single freaking light rail line which doesn't even work most of the time. It is by far the most expensive tramway in the world, and now our municipal government wants to build a metro as well. A single line for € 4,5 billion !!!!!! For a tiny city where literally everyone bikes, and everyone hates trams and buses. You do the math. And we are also investing massively in carbon capture...
you must be new here, we have been laughing at solar roadways for a while now. No it does not make any sense, but the grift keeps going for some reason
They get taxpayer money for these "green" projects, a few people get rich, and they move on to the next grift. They rely on liberal sheep that foam at the mouth when they hear "climate change"...
Ft Carson US Army Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, had solar panels lifted above some parking lots, and it was so nice to park under them in the summer or when it was raining/snowing. They also covered unused/untraveled land with the panels, as well as putting it on a lot of base housing roofs. I liked how they did it. Unfortunately when I was stationed there it was hit by a big hail storm with grapefruit sized hail and that destroyed a bunch of the panels, but that was 6 years ago and I am sure they have repaired them all by now.
There has been pushback against PV on parking in the Netherlands. The municipalities don't want it, because they fear residents won't like looking at it.
@@i.k.8868 Well do they want to be eco or do the residents just want the panels somewhere because it looks fashionable and is the next best thing, just not in *their* backyard? Really shows you where these people's priorities lie.....
@@MysteriousFigure Sustainability is not a priority of Dutch voters (it was literally at the bottom during the last elections a few weeks back). People don't care about sustainability. They care about how much cash is in their wallet, and they certainly don't want their environment to change. PV on your roof is a smart financial choice, not a fashion or philosophical statement. PV in public space is just a nuisance to most people, because they aren't making money off of it themselves. Let me say it this way: most people have solar panels because it saves them money, not because it is "eco". People that do things because they believe it to be eco-friendly account for less than 15% of the population, unfortunately.
@@i.k.8868 On the other hand, it is fortunate that apparently more and more people realize that you cannot change the environment using projects like this, they are just there to offer "peace of mind", not to actually solve the problem. I am happy that we will no longer be forced to spend money on projects that look nice but have near-zero effect. Better spend that money on research than on actual implementation.
It seems to be in Drimmelen. The provincie Noord Brabant payed 1,1 million Euro for it. The provincie is like a state, just 1/12th part of the Netherlands. Yee, that's where we pay our taxes for...
Scams like "Solar Roadways" will continue for as long as "other people's money" (be it from web based platforms like "kickstarter" or similar) or government funding for these stupid "trials" continues . Now if only I could get myself funded for a "trial" where I just sit at home eating Ice-cream and Chocolate Biscuits, while watching Netflix.
Solar cycleways / walkways are a fantastic idea! Wait... Why TF did they put the panels on the ground, when for less cost, they could make shaded cycleways with panels on top that produce more power and have lower maintenance costs?
With sunny weather so rare in the Netherlands, I am not sure you want to cycle in the shade. But they would serve as a nice cover against the rain, provided there is no wind blowing the rain below the panels.
Let's take a moment to appreciate how difficult engineering actual road surfaces is. The task is almost impossible given the expectations on value and cost per km.
This has just inspired me to create a new kick starter project. Hamster wheel generator for mobile phone charging. There must be millions of pet hamster owners
Agreed. Even the solar panels we have at work above the car parks act as a nice rain cover. When you are forced to park far from the main door you can now walk in dry instead on 10mins in rain (it's a big site).
Alright, I have something that would basically destroy any anti-canopy argument; create a canopy that is propped up _only on one side._ Not only would it look hella-futuristic, it would also enable the overhang to have an unabated and safe exit from one side, while the other side - the street side - would have a greater collision area for vehicles _that isn't the bike path and / or riders._
It would be sooooo much cheaper to just build a roof over the sidewalk and put solar panels on the roof. It's all proven technology, too. If you really wanted to get daring, you could store batteries underneath the sidewalk or something.
The Netherlands and their people like a clean-looking environment. You will immediately notice that when you visit the country and compare it with the visual picture in many other countries. Overhead powerlines: we don't have any. Elevated roadways or railways (2-level highways): not something we generally have. etc etc. I am sure that when the typical test cyclepath which is alongside a road in the open countryside would be covered with a roof, lots of people would be against it. No matter if it covers from rain or provides solar power. That will be seen as a visual nuisance.
@@kriss1_ I'm sure lots of people do not like the solar bike paths... but hesitate to argue against something promoted as "saving the environment". However, construction above the bike path is likely a bridge too far.
Oddly enough implementing all the stupid ideas will indeed bring us closer to sustainability. It will pollute our environment with a lot of metallic dust along with tiny chips of silicon and glass and plasics, it will waste our energy and all kinds of resources, it will create new risks and expenses for the inhabitants creating more pressure for the healthcare, and it will waste our time and effort for nothing. Basically it will bring us closer to the inevitable crisis of modern society and we will be forced to find a real solution much earlier than it would be needed otherwise. The only problem is that we know from history that every time such an existential crisis emerged before, it always started with chaos and wars and were followed by at least a century long dark age with significant population decline and even some entire countries no matter how great or powerful they were before getting wiped out almost completely and their territories getting near empty waiting for centuries to be repopulated by someone else again. But that is a minor issue of course. Some may even argue that by sacrificing all the billions of people for our next great ambition we will give some purpose and meaning to the otherwise completely worthless souls.
The thing with the solar roof for the bike path ; at least it provides cover to keep rain off and might encourage more people to use bikes when the weather isnt great.
I wonder what they will do when it starts freezing... like it does now as we speak ;) I guess they will be either sweeping the snow away with those metal brushes which light up orange due to the heat they generate while brushing the street or they spray salt on it using those relatively heavy snow machines.
In the Netherlands, cycle paths will be swept after snow. It happens only a few days per year. And salt is used also, depending on the form of precipitation, on cycle paths from small vehcles. It's quite a high priority, because otherwise half the country can't get to their jobs.
That's also a point that's hugely overlooked. Such a smooth, slippery surface really just poses unnecessary danger for anyone who uses them. I highly doubt that these glass panels provide any kind of grip, which asphalt does. Not to mention that they become even way more dangerous when they become wet during rain or even frozen in winter.
the section in North Holland is not too far from where i live, will check it out at some time in the future. Doing little research it seems to be funded by the province North Holland and designed to be a research project
The problem is that the province is running a research project for a topic that any non-biased engineer can tell them BEFOREHAND is not going to work. But they get their information from companies and institutes that are funded by the money they have in their pockets. No wonder that those bring it as a project where research is needed. While it actually isn't: the answer is already known.
The first path is actually 1 kilometer from my home. When I noticed they were working on it last september I already was snickering and thinking of you lol
See I get this is a joke but that’s what these idiots think. There’s no doubt in my mind that with the right funding, and the right amount of time this could be achieved. Nothing is truly impossible. But as an engineer one must be able to ask themselves “is it worth it” and the answer is no. With all the money and time this will take to complete successfully the world would be able to go fully energy independent, with panels on every roof, household, doghouse, and more. All for what? Not much…. Thats the issue. It’s trying to solve a problem before that problem exists.
@@LarixusSnydes There is no law of physics that says you can't put solar panels on the ground and have them make some electricity; and there's no law of physics that says you can't protect them. But it's a spectacularly shitty idea because it's insanely less efficient than other opportunities that we haven't come close to exhausting yet. Until every roof, every parking spot and every bus station canopy is covered to the brim with solar, you don't even need to consider converting your paved areas, and we're decades upon decades from that away.
It's really unbelievable that we now have 2024 and still there are people left on earth that believe that solar roads are a good idea that can work in any way, when everything that has actually been done since the idea first started (Btw. Solar Roadways was founded in 2006!) has shown that it cannot.
Wouldnt it be preferable to cover biking pathes with some sort of solar "roof" like you know not expose the fragile bits and double a a shade/rain protection. Then again what do I know
Here's a crazy idea: instead of putting solar panels on bike paths, put the solar panels in a central place where they can easily be maintained and connected to the power grid...
I think the solution in Freiburg, Germany makes sense. The cyclists have a shade and the solar cells last 20 years. It would be even easier to mount the solar cells on roofs. Houses and factories usually have electricity, but streets and bike paths usually don't.
When Steve Jobs produced the Macintosh in1984, sometime around 1984 and 1985 he was often found looking for examples of how people were using them in shops, offices, etc which demonstrated they weren't really sure if people could benefited from them or needed them. Contrast that with solar road ways/bike ways, which nobody is asking for, they've had 10 years to provide some kind of benefit and so ultimately nobody needs or wants them.
Macintosh at first was only a niche success, which isn't surprising, the available hardware at first didn't quite rise up to the level of ambition the system had. But it was also only a question of time that processors and memory would catch up, with available semiconductor capacity doubling every 1½ years. People were asking for what was to become the Apple IIGS at the time instead.
6:40 - im devoted cyclist (fastest way to move around city) and I love what I see here. Maybe shade is more important in Australia, but in our area it protects against majority of rain and snow.
Actually, it's quite easy to make reliable freaking solar roadways. You just have to use something more hardy than sand and stones as a protective layer. Something like a good layer of artificial diamonds should do the job I guess.
Just some small artificial diamonds will not quite cut it though as you will still have gaps between them to fill and that is where the problem will emerge. But if you make entire panels out of a single huge thick diamond crystal then it will become possible!
Fundamentally, we can do something similar, we can grow large single crystals of clear sapphire. Unfortunately they are spectacularly slippery, so you can't drive on them. Walking is a difficulty as well. I heard one of Saudi palaces had synthetic sapphire floors somewhere, got them made by Soviet (Ukrainian, Kharkiv) scientists, cost unspeakable money, had to rip them out.
The UK government says "get solar" but they don't like you getting it because it cuts down on the electricity company profits. I'm in the process of putting in 6 panels and an inverter to run things in my house and you need certificates to get any kind of feed in tariff and as I'm self installing I won't get a certificate unless I pay a company to give me one. Hopefully 6 panels will supply about 2/3rds of my electricity and with bills hitting £150-200/month in the UK we need all the help we can get, bloody crazy prices hitting 50p/kwh and many people are facing a choice between heating or food. Then you have 5% VAT (a tax) and you pay over 50p/day just to have a meter, bloody ripoff.......
My mother's house is off-grid, 100% solar and the panels are 20 ywes old without significant losd of efficiency. In that time the battery storage has been replaced once, the tracking mount has died, and the gas standby hemerator is waiting for me to repair it. Nut the traditional rooftop panels have been totally reliable.
Look at that lovely canal with water in it off to the side. Wouldn't it be logical to put a little roof over that for solar panels, after all the parking lots and rooftops are covered, with the added benefit of less evaporation?
Don't forget that the Netherlands are at 50° North. The loss of efficiency will be 70% on a sunny christmas noon time even if the road is free of snow and salt.
It feels like simpleton futurism grift. The marketeers came up with an idea they could sell to capitalize on the green future, but never asked the engineers.
My startup produces solar powered charging stations for e-bikes. They provide a bike rack, a bench, some shade, public Wi-Fi, CCTV. The panels are at 45 degrees which will deflect hail, are protected from dirt and no snow stick to them. Nothing revolutionary, but a tried and true approach that cost 100 times less. These solar roads a total waste of money, thank you for shaming them!
@@ReinouddeLange summed up by @AWriterWandering. 'Bless their little hearts' a condescending yet sympathetic saying in the USA when someone continues to attempt something that is a known failure. Think, the complete opposite of flood control expertise.
Yeah we have some provincial government folks who are really enthousiastic about this stuff. Problem is those of us who know it won't work are too busy having a life to check all the planning and proposals and file objections etc.
So true. That's what many people also don't get although it's not hard to understand: Solar panels laying flat are only useful in equator regions, where the sun often stands in zenith. In other regions of the world solar panels only provide sufficient energy if they are leaning towards the sun, that's why they are built that way in Europe and North America.
Today on "Cobouw", a paywalled e-journal on building and construction came the message that SolaRoad has been dissolved per 31-12-2023: The province of North Holland now reports that the BV SolaRoad was dissolved just before New Year's Eve. According to deputy Rosan Kocken, it turned out not to be possible to set up a solid business model around the technology. Moreover, the three shareholders had little interest in a new capital injection. "But we remain actively involved in pilot projects that help with the application of solar energy in road surfaces," the deputy assures. This is(was) the firm who constructed the first cycleway at Krommenie
Dutch politicians are more about how good they are for the climate. Rationale has never bothered them. The companies that install them are laughing hard. They know they'll have a constant cash flow with these adventures.
Solar freaking cyclepaths solves the catastrophic problem with solar roadways, excessive wear due to 40 ton vehicles! But fails to address any of the other dozen problems which are fatal to the idea.
Well, how much does the tracktor weight that mows the grass near the path and the ditches ? They drive over the cyclepaths at least a couple of years to do this kind of work. And.... quite close to the edges throwing stuff around and sometimes they might just hit part of the path when they need to mow close to the paths... If you don't mow... well, early spring the grass and stuff here is an easy half meter high and give nice shades on the path too. Just to add that to the problems back ;-)
@@elvinhaak tractors weigh more than a bike, sure, but they are far less than a fully loaded semi truck. And a few times per year is far better than a few times per minute that the trucks drive on highways. Even if it isn't great, it is still far FAR less stupid than constant motor vehicle solar roads.
Even with those reasonable solar canopies over the bicycle paths I wonder how much more expensive would be for them to have the panels at least at an optimal angle, likely the best compromise is set it for optimal insolation during winter, rather than laying flat.
its worth keeping in the argument that car emissions and im mostly talking about break pad dust would be a top cause for covering these even if its designed for bikes, like where are bike path's ? normally a few meters from a road, so even if this was a walking only path a few meters from a road it would still get filthy , raising them off street level probably helps a fair bit because its a metallic dust but even then being far from a highway would be the best bet ; obviously heavily subsidising them for home use is what most countries have enough sense to do
Dave, you're being mentioned in a Dutch newspaper (Het Parool) article: 'Zonnepad dat energie opwekt flopt keer op keer, toch blijft iedereen er geld in steken'.
In hot areas like mine, these solar panels would be much better as a roof for cycle path. Maybe even some beautiful vines just under the bifacial solar panels for aesthetics and keeping the panels cool
Yes, the polymer crumbles into tiny pieces and spreads around the cycle path in the grass, cleaning the crumbles is near impossible so it will break down slowly and polute the soil
Why do they keep putting them UNDER the traffic? A solar CANOPY over bike paths (especially the semi-transparent solar panels) would be excellent use of the space. Plus ALL the parking lots. Just the municipal parking lots by themselves would provide more power than if all the roads were "solar roadways".
Well, it's not /as/ bad as solar roadways. It's still pretty bad. I suppose solar paving could be useful in large parks and such, where you may want power for something like a kiosk or security camera and need to achieve it with close to zero visual impact. Solar paving on an existing pathway. But that's a very small niche application. The solar covering /over/ the cyclepath, that's... actually not a bad idea. You can provide rain shelter, angle the roof appropriately, and it makes use of existing land. Still not the most efficient use of panels, but you can imagine how it might not be an entirely stupid plan.
51°29'35.3"N 5°18'25.6"E I think there it is There is a 75 x 30 m Industrial building just 50m away with no solar on it That's over 2000m² which they could have build on
And the company Solaroad went bankrupt last week. One can only get subsidy for cracking and failing roads so many times. They included roads for motor vehicles.
Those overhead solar panels are a pretty good idea for the Netherlands because it rains so much. But being the fancy pants will get you those juicy subsidies! Many people here are sick and tired of seeing their tax euros wasted while taxes are rising and rising and new taxes are introduced. Like the sugar tax on softdrinks. At the same time there are budget cuts for example in public transport. We have enough solar panels already. Energy companies are struggling more and more to balance supply and demand and cost balance. Because they have to subtract every kw put in by solar from the kw used at other moments. Which also brings a massive economic unbalance because power is cheap at peak solar production, but expensive at like 18:00 when it's dark and demand is high.
it's not just bike tires.. Bike paths in the netherlands need to accomudate emergency sercices like police cars and ambulances. They need to be able to drive and break on these roads.
Holy cow. It would be cheaper to build the same length of covered bike path and have the solar panels above where they could actually work and survive way longer.
Im guessing what is more expensive. Put the panels on the roads and having to protect them, or putting them on stilts over the path to provide sunshade and rain/snow protection . You avoid a lot of repairs while producing a lot more electricity and commuters will be a lot happier, i think, or i will be, i think.
It's so funny how slow governments react to reality. You have been calling out solar roadways for years now (with a lot of provable evidence) and still they believe it could work like this. But...I love these videos, so let them build these beauties! :)
Because it will create comfortable conditions for people and that will bring actual people there and where there are people there is always mess and mess is unsightly. Rich and important people who make the decisions do not like it. They want to see a beautiful and harmonious picture with a single beautiful bicyle on the whole perfectly clean and spotless new road during a nice shiny day. Everytging needs to look perfect. Adding any real infrastructure will make it look like some kind of a marketplace or a bus stop only some filthy peasants would custom and even a hint of such an idea is already displeasing and all other things being equal it will put your proposal right to the bottom of the stack.
why couldn't they put a solar roof over a bike pathway instead of on he pathway? Could block rain, and could be shade on hot days, and may provide light at night. This seems more practical than on the path.
You can see the grass on the edge looking at the panels thinking ŴTF is that?. You do know if you tap into the photosynthesis of the lawns next to these paths you can get more energy then from the panels .
Hello in the wattway page where there are photos of their installations, go to the Perpignan, France page and look at the last photo. Normally there is a street lamp shadow on the panel but they faked it by erasing it. If you download the photo and zoom in it you will see the bad copy paste of textures made by photoshop.
Insider tip for those playing along (investing) at home: not much sun in The Netherlands but, no mater the direction, you always end up having headwind
That’s the problem with web sites such as Electrek - they apparently have staff with decent journalistic skill, but not necessarily a technical background. They seem to take entities they write about at their word without questioning. Imagine!, a solar company lying.
Dave has also pointed out in the past that a shadow across a panel can tank the output from a panel. I wonder how many square meters of roof top solar panel could have been installed for the cost of one of these ground based road/cycle ways.
2x efficiency from the panels, another 2x from the cost, then count in longevity and availability of infrastructure (the electric grid is available at almost each building, with other consumers in the home or nearby). I'd say easily 10x more efficient to do rooftop.
I just don't get it, surely erecting a roof along the entire stretch with standard panels is orders of magnitude cheaper and of course more efficient/reliable..
So many of those comments seem to assume you can just plop these on the ground and you have a solar bikeway. Absolutely no consideration at all for how much ground prep goes into an ordinary path let alone one with electronics built into it.
With a quick search I see it's in Drimmelen. On the N285 between Langeweg en Wagenberg
Also in Krommenie 2019....and Noordwijk, Spijkenisse, Haaksbergen and Blauwestad.
These are the new ones mentioned.
Vijfhuizen Noord-Holland 52.36920797244019, 4.701770451860774 (it isn't build yet on the google images)
Oirschot Brabant 51.49314962427526, 5.307194512498644
N395 in Oirschot near the crossover of the A58.
@@muppetpaster Krommenie started in 2014 if im not mistaking. But that one will be replaced by a regular cycle path soon.
Take a look at 52.3690815,4.7024318 or search for 'Zonnefietspad N232' for the picture Dave showed at 8:39.
During all that talking about the Netherlands it seems you have missed the BEST news!
SolaRoad, the company behind the solar cyclepath in Maartensdijk, the "longest in the Netherlands", that produced only 1/4 of the predicted output, has gone OUT OF BUSINESS!
The poor director blames the 1/4 result on "trees along the bikepath that gave shade and dirt". Yeah, surely these weren't there when they constructed the solar path. And, as you also saw in the other example, the typical Dutch road with bikepath almost always has trees along it.
Now that there is no more backing from the company, he says that "should not affect the trial as the path will provide electricity for the coming years"... Well, we will have to see that. I think it will be demolished before next summer.
I swear our country only creates brain dead morons in schools that are only good in exploitation and corruption, because through their contacts and knowing a guy that knows a guy in government or other high place they get to execute this type of crap on tax payers money.
The Netherlands is the most corrupt country on the face of this Earth. It seems all well on the surface but all the crap is done through backdoor deals. As we also like to call them... these are "prestige projects". It'll look good on someone's resume but it won't add anything but a heavier load on the tax payer.
What a cluster f, guy who ran the company said he spend 1 day a week on it. Just did a mayor cash grab. And he went bust because the government stopped funding his bs.
I would say for sure trees are better than a solar freaking cycleway... for safety, comfort, and for the environment. A bad businessman blames the competition or something like that? For being better than him at everything?
Trees along a bike path? That's so sad for the guy who commented he'd be afraid of running into those canopy posts. He'd never be able to bike in the Netherlands unless he gets over his fears with all those trees...
Those trees, which rise suddenly along the road? If we could just cover EVERYTHING in our top-notch solar roadways!
The solar cycle path closest to me in Krommenie (the Netherlands) is being replaced by a regular cycle path because of all the problems it had. There was a piece about it in a local paper last week on January 3th
It's in Dutch but if you google '' de orkaan, de stekker uit Solaroad'' it's the first article. With a translator you could probably read it
Ja dat dus... gekte! 😂
wise words mr. Bakker. maybe tell Kocken about the 300m bike path that generates 280kw peak in freiburg by just not driving on it.
"That the commercial application was the problem seems to be contrary to the facts: the ‘innovation’ itself was the problem."
also for just 1million instead of 5million, it is rare that i can be proud of my government doing something right :P
Cheers Mate 👍 found it easy.
It's our (I'm Dutch) way to promote and indirectly finance EEVblog. And ofcourse we hope Dave will visit The Netherlands eventually.
Why would you do this to him? 😂
Imagine, like, if they'd just put it on top of a canopy so bike riders have protection from the rain as they cycle around. We could call it, like, solar roofway or something.
And not have to cover the solar cells with thick plastic to protect them from bicycle tires...
Interesting idea. I had another thought. It’s a long shot, but the panels might prevent sunlight from passing through them, thereby keeping the sunlight out of the riders eyes. It might be more comfortable even when it’s not raining
the complaints are easy to predict for any idea “that’s ugly” lol
What if they put water on top and then they could match the Romans. (No not really)
@@floodo1they don’t have to be. That one Dave showed is definitely how you doing. And that’s not a goal that needs billions on dollars, I saw someone complain about “colliding” with the supports. That just goes to show you how stupid cyclists are. All this could be fixed with a first year engineer lmao in a year max. But oh “that’s too much work” lmao okay what’s 10 years on this then 💀💀💀
As a Dutch person, I feel deeply ashamed.
Mostly also why people can't follow very simple basic logic that's being taught at high school?
Schools are there (in the Netherlands at least) to make their students brain dead. They are taught to do a trick but they also get their own brain switched off. You could basically call them zombies from an Idiocracy.
They don't teach logic in high school, you need tertiary to get that. (It isn't worth the money to take that course either.)
climate change is a religion that persecutes skeptics
@markschroter2640 They teach physics though, calculating some basic power figures is a lot easier than what I remember from my exams
@@markschroter2640They don't teach logic at Dutch universities!
Whenever projects that are known to fail are publicly funded, there's two questions that immediately come to mind: 1) are the ministers who approved it actually that stupid? and 2) how much of a kickback are they getting for funding this nonsense?
These projects are not approved by ministers, they are done in lower ranks of the public authority, like provinces and municipalities.
The problems is that these ranks get a task and budget to promote and implement renewable energy.
So they have a couple of million in their pockets burning to get spent.
Combine that with greedy companies (and even approval/testing institutes) who do not mind getting money for things they know will not work, and you have a disaster waiting to happen.
It is not like this is the only field where this problem occurs! It happens in healthcare and childcare as well.
@@Rob2 So many layers of governance are complicit. From EU-level 'sustainability funds' and national funds, to provinces and municipalities... Perhaps it is not the minister that signs off on such projects, but I would wager at least a few dozen civil servants were involved in each one. They should all be found incapable of their job.
thinking these people are stupid might be what they want you to believe, they do it for publicity and ideological purity, they don't care about outcomes. Why would they care ? there's virtually no check and balances.
@@i.k.8868 The EU that are killing farmers because for the EU they pollute too much... only to import farming products from South America that doesn't have to follow env and social norms that EU farmers have to follow. In the future we will have milk from NZ.... how dumb this is.
Side note: Politicians are selected by the people and not by engineers or scientists. You will always have politicians with a lack of understanding in many areas, even in the area where they make important decisions.
A fix to this would be that more engineers and scientists become politicians or more politically active. But in my experience, engineers rather want to rant about politicians than actually do something and scientists are usually poor public speakers.
As a Dutch guy, I feel so embarrassed by this. Our infrastructure is generally top notch..
Schmoke and a pancake 🥞?
Bong and a crepe?
Unfortunately, the Monorail Man has many disguises... Who can resist that irresistible combination of "sustainability" and "this could put our town on the map"? After all, it's only the taxpayers' money being thrown away...
It's OK, Australia spent $150m+ on the carbon capture scam.
@@edgarwalk5637 LOL, that is nothing! Here in Utrecht we spent over €500m on a single freaking light rail line which doesn't even work most of the time. It is by far the most expensive tramway in the world, and now our municipal government wants to build a metro as well. A single line for € 4,5 billion !!!!!! For a tiny city where literally everyone bikes, and everyone hates trams and buses. You do the math. And we are also investing massively in carbon capture...
It's fine.. It's always good to have a definitive test. Even when it fails, they might learn a few things.
I don't get the logic, what is the point of put some fragile thing in the ground so everybody can stomp it?
you must be new here, we have been laughing at solar roadways for a while now. No it does not make any sense, but the grift keeps going for some reason
They get taxpayer money for these "green" projects, a few people get rich, and they move on to the next grift.
They rely on liberal sheep that foam at the mouth when they hear "climate change"...
It's "Innovative" so it gets funding.
@@EEVblog not even the "innovative" holds water at this point, it's an idea from decades ago. It's just corruption imho
@@marcogenovesi8570It's just like Communism, it just hasn't been done right yet.... Lol
Ft Carson US Army Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, had solar panels lifted above some parking lots, and it was so nice to park under them in the summer or when it was raining/snowing. They also covered unused/untraveled land with the panels, as well as putting it on a lot of base housing roofs. I liked how they did it. Unfortunately when I was stationed there it was hit by a big hail storm with grapefruit sized hail and that destroyed a bunch of the panels, but that was 6 years ago and I am sure they have repaired them all by now.
I always said we have tons of big parking lots at big box stores and such that they could cover.
There has been pushback against PV on parking in the Netherlands. The municipalities don't want it, because they fear residents won't like looking at it.
@@i.k.8868 Well do they want to be eco or do the residents just want the panels somewhere because it looks fashionable and is the next best thing, just not in *their* backyard? Really shows you where these people's priorities lie.....
@@MysteriousFigure Sustainability is not a priority of Dutch voters (it was literally at the bottom during the last elections a few weeks back). People don't care about sustainability. They care about how much cash is in their wallet, and they certainly don't want their environment to change. PV on your roof is a smart financial choice, not a fashion or philosophical statement. PV in public space is just a nuisance to most people, because they aren't making money off of it themselves. Let me say it this way: most people have solar panels because it saves them money, not because it is "eco". People that do things because they believe it to be eco-friendly account for less than 15% of the population, unfortunately.
@@i.k.8868 On the other hand, it is fortunate that apparently more and more people realize that you cannot change the environment using projects like this, they are just there to offer "peace of mind", not to actually solve the problem.
I am happy that we will no longer be forced to spend money on projects that look nice but have near-zero effect.
Better spend that money on research than on actual implementation.
"So, how much greenwashing vaporware do you want?"
Netherlands: *yes.*
WEF testbed
It seems to be in Drimmelen. The provincie Noord Brabant payed 1,1 million Euro for it. The provincie is like a state, just 1/12th part of the Netherlands. Yee, that's where we pay our taxes for...
Shouldn't tax payer association exercise oversight so they don't spend money on things that we know are bad?
Scams like "Solar Roadways" will continue for as long as "other people's money" (be it from web based platforms like "kickstarter" or similar) or government funding for these stupid "trials" continues . Now if only I could get myself funded for a "trial" where I just sit at home eating Ice-cream and Chocolate Biscuits, while watching Netflix.
As long as there are politicians around who only care about initiative instead of results.
the photos are form near vijfhuizen, here are the cords: 52°22'09.0"N 4°42'08.5"E
Solar cycleways / walkways are a fantastic idea! Wait... Why TF did they put the panels on the ground, when for less cost, they could make shaded cycleways with panels on top that produce more power and have lower maintenance costs?
With sunny weather so rare in the Netherlands, I am not sure you want to cycle in the shade. But they would serve as a nice cover against the rain, provided there is no wind blowing the rain below the panels.
You can steal our money, but not the sky above our cycle path!!!
Let's take a moment to appreciate how difficult engineering actual road surfaces is. The task is almost impossible given the expectations on value and cost per km.
This popped up in my news feed about a week ago and I immediately thought "I'm looking forward to hearing Dave talk about it".
This has just inspired me to create a new kick starter project.
Hamster wheel generator for mobile phone charging. There must be millions of pet hamster owners
ya know what would be nice, is a cover for the cycle path that was solar... It would be nice to not get rained on while cycling
Shade, too! I live in 100 degree summer land, where cycling is not conducive to life. Some shade would help.
6:38 that’s what Germany is doing. And yeah, it’s way smarter.
Agreed. Even the solar panels we have at work above the car parks act as a nice rain cover. When you are forced to park far from the main door you can now walk in dry instead on 10mins in rain (it's a big site).
The reason they've installed in multiple countries will be grants from multiple countries, also wonder if they're getting carbon offfset money
I hadn't thought of that, makes it all make that much more sense!
Seen those glass platforms on popular look outs? See how blurry and opaque they get due to usage...
Alright, I have something that would basically destroy any anti-canopy argument; create a canopy that is propped up _only on one side._ Not only would it look hella-futuristic, it would also enable the overhang to have an unabated and safe exit from one side, while the other side - the street side - would have a greater collision area for vehicles _that isn't the bike path and / or riders._
It would be sooooo much cheaper to just build a roof over the sidewalk and put solar panels on the roof. It's all proven technology, too. If you really wanted to get daring, you could store batteries underneath the sidewalk or something.
But that doesn't allow for as much fraud and milk.
The powergrid probably can't even handle it as its overloaded nationwide.
So less output is probably the smart thing to do.😂😂
The Netherlands and their people like a clean-looking environment. You will immediately notice that when you visit the country and compare it with the visual picture in many other countries.
Overhead powerlines: we don't have any.
Elevated roadways or railways (2-level highways): not something we generally have.
etc etc.
I am sure that when the typical test cyclepath which is alongside a road in the open countryside would be covered with a roof, lots of people would be against it. No matter if it covers from rain or provides solar power.
That will be seen as a visual nuisance.
@@Rob2 Yes, they like a clean looking environment so much they put very ugly panels right in their bike path
@@kriss1_ I'm sure lots of people do not like the solar bike paths... but hesitate to argue against something promoted as "saving the environment".
However, construction above the bike path is likely a bridge too far.
"Peddling towards sustainability" reminds me of the stuff a decade and more ago when they were trying to attach generators to exercise bikes.
This idea works GREAT, (if you lack basic maths skills lol)
Oddly enough implementing all the stupid ideas will indeed bring us closer to sustainability. It will pollute our environment with a lot of metallic dust along with tiny chips of silicon and glass and plasics, it will waste our energy and all kinds of resources, it will create new risks and expenses for the inhabitants creating more pressure for the healthcare, and it will waste our time and effort for nothing. Basically it will bring us closer to the inevitable crisis of modern society and we will be forced to find a real solution much earlier than it would be needed otherwise.
The only problem is that we know from history that every time such an existential crisis emerged before, it always started with chaos and wars and were followed by at least a century long dark age with significant population decline and even some entire countries no matter how great or powerful they were before getting wiped out almost completely and their territories getting near empty waiting for centuries to be repopulated by someone else again. But that is a minor issue of course. Some may even argue that by sacrificing all the billions of people for our next great ambition we will give some purpose and meaning to the otherwise completely worthless souls.
That was on Black Mirror.
A lot that was on there will become reality, because we let it.
The thing with the solar roof for the bike path ; at least it provides cover to keep rain off and might encourage more people to use bikes when the weather isnt great.
Omg can they just keep solar to roof tops. AAAAAAAAAAAA.
"Innovation"
@Okurka. I did - so it seems you can ;)
@@EEVblog Solar Freakin' Rooftops!
I wonder what they will do when it starts freezing... like it does now as we speak ;)
I guess they will be either sweeping the snow away with those metal brushes which light up orange due to the heat they generate while brushing the street or they spray salt on it using those relatively heavy snow machines.
@@Okurka. I live in the Netherlands, so I know how they do it and it is already damaging regular bike lanes, let alone solar panel roads
@@Okurka. Do they even? Sweeping bikepaths from snow is a tertiary priorit it seems.
In the Netherlands, cycle paths will be swept after snow. It happens only a few days per year. And salt is used also, depending on the form of precipitation, on cycle paths from small vehcles. It's quite a high priority, because otherwise half the country can't get to their jobs.
Riding on smooth solar panels, awesome! I may as well just ride on ice.
That's also a point that's hugely overlooked. Such a smooth, slippery surface really just poses unnecessary danger for anyone who uses them. I highly doubt that these glass panels provide any kind of grip, which asphalt does. Not to mention that they become even way more dangerous when they become wet during rain or even frozen in winter.
the section in North Holland is not too far from where i live, will check it out at some time in the future. Doing little research it seems to be funded by the province North Holland and designed to be a research project
The problem is that the province is running a research project for a topic that any non-biased engineer can tell them BEFOREHAND is not going to work.
But they get their information from companies and institutes that are funded by the money they have in their pockets.
No wonder that those bring it as a project where research is needed. While it actually isn't: the answer is already known.
Wanna have a laugh? In Italian, more precisely in Rome since it's a local slang, "Sola" literally means "scam" ahahahah
The first path is actually 1 kilometer from my home.
When I noticed they were working on it last september I already was snickering and thinking of you lol
Dave’s really gonna have egg on his face when they figure out this technology in a 1000 years
Don't have to worry about dirt and damage to the solar road when you have flying cars.
See I get this is a joke but that’s what these idiots think. There’s no doubt in my mind that with the right funding, and the right amount of time this could be achieved. Nothing is truly impossible. But as an engineer one must be able to ask themselves “is it worth it” and the answer is no. With all the money and time this will take to complete successfully the world would be able to go fully energy independent, with panels on every roof, household, doghouse, and more. All for what? Not much…. Thats the issue. It’s trying to solve a problem before that problem exists.
"You canna break the Laws of Physics" That's why it will never keep working when you put the panels on the ground.
@@LarixusSnydes There is no law of physics that says you can't put solar panels on the ground and have them make some electricity; and there's no law of physics that says you can't protect them.
But it's a spectacularly shitty idea because it's insanely less efficient than other opportunities that we haven't come close to exhausting yet. Until every roof, every parking spot and every bus station canopy is covered to the brim with solar, you don't even need to consider converting your paved areas, and we're decades upon decades from that away.
@@SianaGearz This.
Bet you never predicted all these years ago this would be the gift that keeps on giving.
It's really unbelievable that we now have 2024 and still there are people left on earth that believe that solar roads are a good idea that can work in any way, when everything that has actually been done since the idea first started (Btw. Solar Roadways was founded in 2006!) has shown that it cannot.
Wouldnt it be preferable to cover biking pathes with some sort of solar "roof" like you know not expose the fragile bits and double a a shade/rain protection. Then again what do I know
Especially over here... we had so much rain these last few months... crazyyyyy
Here's a crazy idea: instead of putting solar panels on bike paths, put the solar panels in a central place where they can easily be maintained and connected to the power grid...
I think the solution in Freiburg, Germany makes sense. The cyclists have a shade and the solar cells last 20 years.
It would be even easier to mount the solar cells on roofs. Houses and factories usually have electricity, but streets and bike paths usually don't.
When Steve Jobs produced the Macintosh in1984, sometime around 1984 and 1985 he was often found looking for examples of how people were using them in shops, offices, etc which demonstrated they weren't really sure if people could benefited from them or needed them. Contrast that with solar road ways/bike ways, which nobody is asking for, they've had 10 years to provide some kind of benefit and so ultimately nobody needs or wants them.
Macintosh at first was only a niche success, which isn't surprising, the available hardware at first didn't quite rise up to the level of ambition the system had. But it was also only a question of time that processors and memory would catch up, with available semiconductor capacity doubling every 1½ years. People were asking for what was to become the Apple IIGS at the time instead.
The one in North Brabant is the cyclepath next to the N285 road between the towns of Langeweg en Wagenberg around 51°39'38.2"N 4°42'17.5"E
I use studded bike tires in winter these will scratch the heck out them. No winter shots for the path too.
I dont think those tires are allowed in the netherlands on public roads
6:40 - im devoted cyclist (fastest way to move around city) and I love what I see here. Maybe shade is more important in Australia, but in our area it protects against majority of rain and snow.
@@Okurka.what’s a city? Sounds like gay little city people problems
Actually, it's quite easy to make reliable freaking solar roadways. You just have to use something more hardy than sand and stones as a protective layer. Something like a good layer of artificial diamonds should do the job I guess.
Just some small artificial diamonds will not quite cut it though as you will still have gaps between them to fill and that is where the problem will emerge. But if you make entire panels out of a single huge thick diamond crystal then it will become possible!
Fundamentally, we can do something similar, we can grow large single crystals of clear sapphire. Unfortunately they are spectacularly slippery, so you can't drive on them. Walking is a difficulty as well. I heard one of Saudi palaces had synthetic sapphire floors somewhere, got them made by Soviet (Ukrainian, Kharkiv) scientists, cost unspeakable money, had to rip them out.
It would be more practical to mount Solar Panels on the noise barriers along the highways.
Nah thats too easy, Solar Crash Barriers
I found your channel from Solar freakin' Roadways lol
Freiburg seems the way to go, having a bit of shelter for a cycleway/walkway would encourage people to use it, and it generating power? win-win
The UK government says "get solar" but they don't like you getting it because it cuts down on the electricity company profits. I'm in the process of putting in 6 panels and an inverter to run things in my house and you need certificates to get any kind of feed in tariff and as I'm self installing I won't get a certificate unless I pay a company to give me one. Hopefully 6 panels will supply about 2/3rds of my electricity and with bills hitting £150-200/month in the UK we need all the help we can get, bloody crazy prices hitting 50p/kwh and many people are facing a choice between heating or food. Then you have 5% VAT (a tax) and you pay over 50p/day just to have a meter, bloody ripoff.......
My mother's house is off-grid, 100% solar and the panels are 20 ywes old without significant losd of efficiency. In that time the battery storage has been replaced once, the tracking mount has died, and the gas standby hemerator is waiting for me to repair it. Nut the traditional rooftop panels have been totally reliable.
Yes, my mothers PV was installed in 1999 and they still work fine. And they are easy to recycle anyways.
Look at that lovely canal with water in it off to the side. Wouldn't it be logical to put a little roof over that for solar panels, after all the parking lots and rooftops are covered, with the added benefit of less evaporation?
Don't forget that the Netherlands are at 50° North. The loss of efficiency will be 70% on a sunny christmas noon time even if the road is free of snow and salt.
What happens to these in winter when those cycle paths are salted is going to be interesting, at best that will reduce the efficiency quite a bit.
Even the TH-cam Bots love Solar freaking Cycleways😂
8:40 : That picture with the airplane in the background is geolocated to the "Schipholweg", N232, 52.369202° 4.701825°.
I have never understood the fundamental reason: why? Who on earth even got the idea?
It feels like simpleton futurism grift. The marketeers came up with an idea they could sell to capitalize on the green future, but never asked the engineers.
Why not just put solar panels literally anywhere but ground that's supposed to have people/vehicles on it. Like on a roof maybe?
Solar Freakin Rooftops!
2024 is the year of Solar FREAKIN rooftops.
My startup produces solar powered charging stations for e-bikes. They provide a bike rack, a bench, some shade, public Wi-Fi, CCTV.
The panels are at 45 degrees which will deflect hail, are protected from dirt and no snow stick to them. Nothing revolutionary, but a tried and true approach that cost 100 times less.
These solar roads a total waste of money, thank you for shaming them!
One thing you can say about the Dutch is they keep trying. Bless their little hearts.
For all the money they’re wasting on this nonsense, they could just pay property owners to put solar panels on their buildings.
Why do we have little hearts?
@@ReinouddeLange summed up by @AWriterWandering. 'Bless their little hearts' a condescending yet sympathetic saying in the USA when someone continues to attempt something that is a known failure. Think, the complete opposite of flood control expertise.
Yeah we have some provincial government folks who are really enthousiastic about this stuff. Problem is those of us who know it won't work are too busy having a life to check all the planning and proposals and file objections etc.
@@ReinouddeLange It's an expression / idiom, somewhat condescending, when someone is trying, but failing.
Crazy, even more crazier this far north. At this latitudes panels in vertical orientation are better than laying flat.
So true. That's what many people also don't get although it's not hard to understand: Solar panels laying flat are only useful in equator regions, where the sun often stands in zenith. In other regions of the world solar panels only provide sufficient energy if they are leaning towards the sun, that's why they are built that way in Europe and North America.
Today on "Cobouw", a paywalled e-journal on building and construction came the message that SolaRoad has been dissolved per 31-12-2023:
The province of North Holland now reports that the BV SolaRoad was dissolved just before New Year's Eve. According to deputy Rosan Kocken, it turned out not to be possible to set up a solid business model around the technology. Moreover, the three shareholders had little interest in a new capital injection. "But we remain actively involved in pilot projects that help with the application of solar energy in road surfaces," the deputy assures.
This is(was) the firm who constructed the first cycleway at Krommenie
Dutch politicians are more about how good they are for the climate. Rationale has never bothered them. The companies that install them are laughing hard. They know they'll have a constant cash flow with these adventures.
maybe they will add signs later which will say riding a bike forbidden, please use the street for riding
Probably soon a sighn will be there stating 'slecht wegdek', 'fietsers afstappen'.
Actually, I read this week that the investors of solar roadways in the Netherlands pulled out, so I think the concept is finally coming to an end
Solar freaking cyclepaths solves the catastrophic problem with solar roadways, excessive wear due to 40 ton vehicles!
But fails to address any of the other dozen problems which are fatal to the idea.
Well, how much does the tracktor weight that mows the grass near the path and the ditches ? They drive over the cyclepaths at least a couple of years to do this kind of work.
And.... quite close to the edges throwing stuff around and sometimes they might just hit part of the path when they need to mow close to the paths...
If you don't mow... well, early spring the grass and stuff here is an easy half meter high and give nice shades on the path too.
Just to add that to the problems back ;-)
@@elvinhaak tractors weigh more than a bike, sure, but they are far less than a fully loaded semi truck. And a few times per year is far better than a few times per minute that the trucks drive on highways.
Even if it isn't great, it is still far FAR less stupid than constant motor vehicle solar roads.
Love your work. Happy new year from Brisbane!
Even with those reasonable solar canopies over the bicycle paths I wonder how much more expensive would be for them to have the panels at least at an optimal angle, likely the best compromise is set it for optimal insolation during winter, rather than laying flat.
its worth keeping in the argument that car emissions and im mostly talking about break pad dust would be a top cause for covering these even if its designed for bikes, like where are bike path's ? normally a few meters from a road, so even if this was a walking only path a few meters from a road it would still get filthy , raising them off street level probably helps a fair bit because its a metallic dust but even then being far from a highway would be the best bet ; obviously heavily subsidising them for home use is what most countries have enough sense to do
Dave, you're being mentioned in a Dutch newspaper (Het Parool) article:
'Zonnepad dat energie opwekt flopt keer op keer, toch blijft iedereen er geld in steken'.
In hot areas like mine, these solar panels would be much better as a roof for cycle path. Maybe even some beautiful vines just under the bifacial solar panels for aesthetics and keeping the panels cool
Is there a risk of chemical pollution from these?
I've seen the colas ones up close, it looked like a panel potted in epoxy.
Yes, the polymer crumbles into tiny pieces and spreads around the cycle path in the grass, cleaning the crumbles is near impossible so it will break down slowly and polute the soil
solar panels are considered toxic waste by landfills for a reason
Why do they keep putting them UNDER the traffic? A solar CANOPY over bike paths (especially the semi-transparent solar panels) would be excellent use of the space. Plus ALL the parking lots. Just the municipal parking lots by themselves would provide more power than if all the roads were "solar roadways".
I saw this a few days ago and was anxiously awaiting for this video.
Waste of money 😮
Well, it's not /as/ bad as solar roadways. It's still pretty bad. I suppose solar paving could be useful in large parks and such, where you may want power for something like a kiosk or security camera and need to achieve it with close to zero visual impact. Solar paving on an existing pathway. But that's a very small niche application.
The solar covering /over/ the cyclepath, that's... actually not a bad idea. You can provide rain shelter, angle the roof appropriately, and it makes use of existing land. Still not the most efficient use of panels, but you can imagine how it might not be an entirely stupid plan.
51°29'35.3"N 5°18'25.6"E
I think there it is
There is a 75 x 30 m Industrial building just 50m away with no solar on it
That's over 2000m² which they could have build on
I think you found it. Good job!
When will companies learn the actual meaning of "sustainable"?
'Sustainable' means when cashflow is constant and always points to you. Right?
And the company Solaroad went bankrupt last week. One can only get subsidy for cracking and failing roads so many times. They included roads for motor vehicles.
Those overhead solar panels are a pretty good idea for the Netherlands because it rains so much. But being the fancy pants will get you those juicy subsidies! Many people here are sick and tired of seeing their tax euros wasted while taxes are rising and rising and new taxes are introduced. Like the sugar tax on softdrinks. At the same time there are budget cuts for example in public transport. We have enough solar panels already. Energy companies are struggling more and more to balance supply and demand and cost balance. Because they have to subtract every kw put in by solar from the kw used at other moments. Which also brings a massive economic unbalance because power is cheap at peak solar production, but expensive at like 18:00 when it's dark and demand is high.
it's not just bike tires..
Bike paths in the netherlands need to accomudate emergency sercices like police cars and ambulances. They need to be able to drive and break on these roads.
And how many years will the broken panels stay there and impair bike riding?
Holy cow. It would be cheaper to build the same length of covered bike path and have the solar panels above where they could actually work and survive way longer.
Why are they putting solar panels on the ground when they are more effective and far better protected on roofs?
The other day my Dutch newspaper reported that the company Solaroad went bankrupt.
Im guessing what is more expensive.
Put the panels on the roads and having to protect them, or putting them on stilts over the path to provide sunshade and rain/snow protection .
You avoid a lot of repairs while producing a lot more electricity and commuters will be a lot happier, i think, or i will be, i think.
It's so funny how slow governments react to reality. You have been calling out solar roadways for years now (with a lot of provable evidence) and still they believe it could work like this. But...I love these videos, so let them build these beauties! :)
Why are people so opposed to letting solar panels provide shade?
Because it will create comfortable conditions for people and that will bring actual people there and where there are people there is always mess and mess is unsightly. Rich and important people who make the decisions do not like it. They want to see a beautiful and harmonious picture with a single beautiful bicyle on the whole perfectly clean and spotless new road during a nice shiny day. Everytging needs to look perfect. Adding any real infrastructure will make it look like some kind of a marketplace or a bus stop only some filthy peasants would custom and even a hint of such an idea is already displeasing and all other things being equal it will put your proposal right to the bottom of the stack.
why couldn't they put a solar roof over a bike pathway instead of on he pathway? Could block rain, and could be shade on hot days, and may provide light at night. This seems more practical than on the path.
Solar panels on the ground have the huge benefit of making it collect solar energy without taking up more room.
The downside is everything.
Why do we have to walk/drive on our solar panels?
I don't see the point.
You can see the grass on the edge looking at the panels thinking ŴTF is that?. You do know if you tap into the photosynthesis of the lawns next to these paths you can get more energy then from the panels .
If these things worked the company that made them will have already installed them all over their manufacturing sites, they make money right?
Hello in the wattway page where there are photos of their installations, go to the Perpignan, France page and look at the last photo. Normally there is a street lamp shadow on the panel but they faked it by erasing it. If you download the photo and zoom in it you will see the bad copy paste of textures made by photoshop.
When something doesn't work all you have to do is keep doing exactly the same thing, and if you stick at it after a bit of time, it won't work again.
Insider tip for those playing along (investing) at home: not much sun in The Netherlands but, no mater the direction, you always end up having headwind
Don't peddle so hard then. ;)
Then the obvious solution is to put windmills on the bike paths!
@@sedsberg77🤣
It's like ED-209 for OCP, it doesn't matter if it actually works.
Nooooot again... Will this ever end? Someone should start kickstarter for solar strapon.
The funny bit is, you could make the solar panels the roof instead of the floor and solve like 70% of the problems.
You could even market it as a shaded bike path with protection from rain and snow. 😂
@@Okurka. I literally did not watch this video about solar roadways. I only paid attention for the first 3 seasons.
That’s the problem with web sites such as Electrek - they apparently have staff with decent journalistic skill, but not necessarily a technical background. They seem to take entities they write about at their word without questioning. Imagine!, a solar company lying.
Politicians getting bribed by company's to put these forward 😠😠
Dave has also pointed out in the past that a shadow across a panel can tank the output from a panel. I wonder how many square meters of roof top solar panel could have been installed for the cost of one of these ground based road/cycle ways.
2x efficiency from the panels, another 2x from the cost, then count in longevity and availability of infrastructure (the electric grid is available at almost each building, with other consumers in the home or nearby). I'd say easily 10x more efficient to do rooftop.
I just don't get it, surely erecting a roof along the entire stretch with standard panels is orders of magnitude cheaper and of course more efficient/reliable..
In Germany it is not possible to add an economical solar system to an apartment building.
So many of those comments seem to assume you can just plop these on the ground and you have a solar bikeway. Absolutely no consideration at all for how much ground prep goes into an ordinary path let alone one with electronics built into it.