IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v196y2024ics1364032124000674.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

European transport infrastructure as a solar photovoltaic energy hub

Author

Listed:
  • Kakoulaki, G.
  • Szabo, S.
  • Fahl F, F.
  • Taylor, N.
  • Gracia-Amillo, A.
  • Kenny, R.
  • Ulpiani, G.
  • Chatzipanagi, A.
  • Gkoumas, K.
  • Jäger-Waldau, A.

Abstract

The urgency of meeting climate targets, increasing land use competition and falling solar photovoltaic (PV) energy costs have created unprecedented opportunities for innovative deployment options. This study uses geospatial data processing to quantify the potential for large-scale deployment of vertical solar panels along Europe's major roads and railways. Factors such as geography, environmental constraints, land use limitations, and techno-economic parameters, were carefully considered. An economic assessment is provided to take account of the costs and benefits and technical feasibility of the proposed PV system as compared to the fossil-fuel based transport. The findings reveal a potential PV capacity of 403 GWp within the European Union (EU). This is the equivalent to 55% of the EU's total solar PV capacity target set for 2030. Using bifacial PV modules, these systems could generate 391 TWh (terawatt hours) of clean electricity annually. Considering only railway lines, the total annual PV electricity output could potentially reach 250% of the current annual electricity consumption of the EU railway network. Additionally, the electricity generated from PV installations alongside roads would not only be cost-effective in electricity markets but also serve as a viable alternative to fossil fuels in transportation. Tapping solar PV energy along transport infrastructure can therefore significantly contribute to the EU's energy transition.

Suggested Citation

  • Kakoulaki, G. & Szabo, S. & Fahl F, F. & Taylor, N. & Gracia-Amillo, A. & Kenny, R. & Ulpiani, G. & Chatzipanagi, A. & Gkoumas, K. & Jäger-Waldau, A., 2024. "European transport infrastructure as a solar photovoltaic energy hub," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:196:y:2024:i:c:s1364032124000674
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2024.114344
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032124000674
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2024.114344?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anatoli Chatzipanagi & Arnulf Jäger-Waldau, 2023. "The European Solar Communication—Will It Pave the Road to Achieve 1 TW of Photovoltaic System Capacity in the European Union by 2030?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-10, April.
    2. Zhong, Teng & Zhang, Kai & Chen, Min & Wang, Yijie & Zhu, Rui & Zhang, Zhixin & Zhou, Zixuan & Qian, Zhen & Lv, Guonian & Yan, Jinyue, 2021. "Assessment of solar photovoltaic potentials on urban noise barriers using street-view imagery," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 181-194.
    3. Kougias, Ioannis & Taylor, Nigel & Kakoulaki, Georgia & Jäger-Waldau, Arnulf, 2021. "The role of photovoltaics for the European Green Deal and the recovery plan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    4. Radovan Kopecek & Joris Libal, 2021. "Bifacial Photovoltaics 2021: Status, Opportunities and Challenges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-16, April.
    5. Wadhawan, Siddharth R. & Pearce, Joshua M., 2017. "Power and energy potential of mass-scale photovoltaic noise barrier deployment: A case study for the U.S," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 125-132.
    6. Jouttijärvi, Sami & Lobaccaro, Gabriele & Kamppinen, Aleksi & Miettunen, Kati, 2022. "Benefits of bifacial solar cells combined with low voltage power grids at high latitudes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    7. Khan, M. Ryyan & Sakr, Enas & Sun, Xingshu & Bermel, Peter & Alam, Muhammad A., 2019. "Ground sculpting to enhance energy yield of vertical bifacial solar farms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C), pages 592-598.
    8. Sharmarke Hassan & Mahmoud Dhimish, 2022. "Review of Current State-of-the-Art Research on Photovoltaic Soiling, Anti-Reflective Coating, and Solar Roads Deployment Supported by a Pilot Experiment on a PV Road," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-24, December.
    9. Kosmadakis, Ioannis E. & Elmasides, Costas & Koulinas, Georgios & Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P., 2021. "Energy unit cost assessment of six photovoltaic-battery configurations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 24-41.
    10. Gu, Minan & Liu, Yongsheng & Yang, Jingjing & Peng, Lin & Zhao, Chunjiang & Yang, Zhenglong & Yang, Jinhuan & Fang, Wengjian & Fang, Jin & Zhao, Zhenjie, 2012. "Estimation of environmental effect of PVNB installed along a metro line in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 237-244.
    11. Thomas Huld & Ana M. Gracia Amillo, 2015. "Estimating PV Module Performance over Large Geographical Regions: The Role of Irradiance, Air Temperature, Wind Speed and Solar Spectrum," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-23, June.
    12. Dutta, Riya & Chanda, Kironmala & Maity, Rajib, 2022. "Future of solar energy potential in a changing climate across the world: A CMIP6 multi-model ensemble analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 819-829.
    13. Maghami, Mohammad Reza & Hizam, Hashim & Gomes, Chandima & Radzi, Mohd Amran & Rezadad, Mohammad Ismael & Hajighorbani, Shahrooz, 2016. "Power loss due to soiling on solar panel: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1307-1316.
    14. Guo, Siyu & Walsh, Timothy Michael & Peters, Marius, 2013. "Vertically mounted bifacial photovoltaic modules: A global analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 447-454.
    15. Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Ram, Manish & Aghahosseini, Arman & Gulagi, Ashish & Oyewo, Ayobami Solomon & Child, Michael & Caldera, Upeksha & Sadovskaia, Kristina & Farfan, Javier & De Souza Noel Simas Barbos, 2021. "Low-cost renewable electricity as the key driver of the global energy transition towards sustainability," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Laszlo Szabo & Magda Moner- Girona & Arnulf Jäger-Waldau & Ioannis Kougias & Andras Mezosi & Fernando Fahl & Sandor Szabo, 2024. "Impacts of large-scale deployment of vertical bifacial photovoltaics on European electricity market dynamics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Kai & Wang, Dajiang & Chen, Min & Zhu, Rui & Zhang, Fan & Zhong, Teng & Qian, Zhen & Wang, Yazhou & Li, Hengyue & Wang, Yijie & Lü, Guonian & Yan, Jinyue, 2024. "Power generation assessment of photovoltaic noise barriers across 52 major Chinese cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 361(C).
    2. Rahimat O. Yakubu & Maame T. Ankoh & Lena D. Mensah & David A. Quansah & Muyiwa S. Adaramola, 2022. "Predicting the Potential Energy Yield of Bifacial Solar PV Systems in Low-Latitude Region," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Tao, Yunkun & Bai, Jianbo & Pachauri, Rupendra Kumar & Wang, Yue & Li, Jian & Attaher, Harouna Kerzika, 2021. "Parameterizing mismatch loss in bifacial photovoltaic modules with global deployment: A comprehensive study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    4. Jouttijärvi, Sami & Lobaccaro, Gabriele & Kamppinen, Aleksi & Miettunen, Kati, 2022. "Benefits of bifacial solar cells combined with low voltage power grids at high latitudes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    5. Li, He & Liu, Pan & Guo, Shenglian & Cheng, Lei & Huang, Kangdi & Feng, Maoyuan & He, Shaokun & Ming, Bo, 2021. "Deriving adaptive long-term complementary operating rules for a large-scale hydro-photovoltaic hybrid power plant using ensemble Kalman filter," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    6. Laszlo Szabo & Magda Moner- Girona & Arnulf Jäger-Waldau & Ioannis Kougias & Andras Mezosi & Fernando Fahl & Sandor Szabo, 2024. "Impacts of large-scale deployment of vertical bifacial photovoltaics on European electricity market dynamics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, December.
    7. Manni, Mattia & Jouttijärvi, Sami & Ranta, Samuli & Miettunen, Kati & Lobaccaro, Gabriele, 2024. "Validation of model chains for global tilted irradiance on East-West vertical bifacial photovoltaics at high latitudes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    8. Zhang, Kai & Chen, Min & Yang, Yue & Zhong, Teng & Zhu, Rui & Zhang, Fan & Qian, Zhen & Lü, Guonian & Yan, Jinyue, 2022. "Quantifying the photovoltaic potential of highways in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    9. Shitao Wang & Yi Shen & Junbing Zhou & Caixia Li & Lijun Ma, 2022. "Efficiency Enhancement of Tilted Bifacial Photovoltaic Modules with Horizontal Single-Axis Tracker—The Bifacial Companion Method," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-22, February.
    10. Karttunen, Lauri & Jouttijärvi, Sami & Poskela, Aapo & Palonen, Heikki & Huerta, Hugo & Todorović, Milica & Ranta, Samuli & Miettunen, Kati, 2023. "Comparing methods for the long-term performance assessment of bifacial photovoltaic modules in Nordic conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P1).
    11. Jouttijärvi, S. & Karttunen, L. & Ranta, S. & Miettunen, K., 2024. "Techno-economic analysis on optimizing the value of photovoltaic electricity in a high-latitude location," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 361(C).
    12. Ludwik Wicki & Robert Pietrzykowski & Dariusz Kusz, 2022. "Factors Determining the Development of Prosumer Photovoltaic Installations in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-19, August.
    13. Drücke, Jaqueline & Borsche, Michael & James, Paul & Kaspar, Frank & Pfeifroth, Uwe & Ahrens, Bodo & Trentmann, Jörg, 2021. "Climatological analysis of solar and wind energy in Germany using the Grosswetterlagen classification," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1254-1266.
    14. Patel, M. Tahir & Khan, M. Ryyan & Sun, Xingshu & Alam, Muhammad A., 2019. "A worldwide cost-based design and optimization of tilted bifacial solar farms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 467-479.
    15. Zhong, Teng & Zhang, Kai & Chen, Min & Wang, Yijie & Zhu, Rui & Zhang, Zhixin & Zhou, Zixuan & Qian, Zhen & Lv, Guonian & Yan, Jinyue, 2021. "Assessment of solar photovoltaic potentials on urban noise barriers using street-view imagery," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 181-194.
    16. Chen, Xie & Zhou, Chaohui & Tian, Zhiyong & Mao, Hongzhi & Luo, Yongqiang & Sun, Deyu & Fan, Jianhua & Jiang, Liguang & Deng, Jie & Rosen, Marc A., 2023. "Different photovoltaic power potential variations in East and West China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 351(C).
    17. Mengjin Hu & Xiaoyang Song & Zhongxu Bao & Zhao Liu & Mengju Wei & Yaohuan Huang, 2022. "Evaluation of the Economic Potential of Photovoltaic Power Generation in Road Spaces," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-16, September.
    18. Trigo-González, Mauricio & Batlles, F.J. & Alonso-Montesinos, Joaquín & Ferrada, Pablo & del Sagrado, J. & Martínez-Durbán, M. & Cortés, Marcelo & Portillo, Carlos & Marzo, Aitor, 2019. "Hourly PV production estimation by means of an exportable multiple linear regression model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 303-312.
    19. Oyewo, Ayobami Solomon & Solomon, A.A. & Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Aghahosseini, Arman & Mensah, Theophilus Nii Odai & Ram, Manish & Breyer, Christian, 2021. "Just transition towards defossilised energy systems for developing economies: A case study of Ethiopia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 346-365.
    20. Wu, Junqi & Niu, Zhibin & Li, Xiang & Huang, Lizhen & Nielsen, Per Sieverts & Liu, Xiufeng, 2023. "Understanding multi-scale spatiotemporal energy consumption data: A visual analysis approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PD).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:196:y:2024:i:c:s1364032124000674. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.