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Strategies to Facilitate Photovoltaic Applications in Road Structures for Energy Harvesting

Author

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  • Yiqing Dai

    (College of Civil Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, China
    Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia)

  • Yan Yin

    (Department of Publicity, Ding Huai Men Campus, Jiangsu Open University, Nanjing 210036, China)

  • Yundi Lu

    (School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) facilities are sustainable and promising approaches for energy harvesting, but their applications usually require adequate spaces. Road structures account for a considerable proportion of urban and suburban areas and may be feasible for incorporation with photovoltaic facilities, and thereby have attracted research interests. One solution for such applications is to take advantage of the spare ground in road facilities without traffic load, where the solar panels are mounted as their conventional applications. Such practices have been applied in medians and slopes of roads and open spaces in interchanges. Applications in accessory buildings and facilities including noise/wind barriers, parking lots, and lightings have also been reported. More efforts in existing researches have been paid to PV applications in load-bearing pavement structures, possibly because the pavement structures cover the major area of road structures. Current strategies are encapsulating PV cells by transparent coverings to different substrates to prefabricate modular PV panels in factories for onsite installation. Test road sections with such modular solar panels have been reported, where inferior cost-effectiveness and difficulties in maintenance have been evidenced, suggesting more challenges exist than expected. In order to enhance the power output of the integrated PV facilities, experiences from building-integrated PVs may be helpful, including a selection of proper PV technologies, an optimized inclination of PV panels, and mitigating the operational temperature of PV cells. Novel integrations of amorphous silicon PV cells and glass fiber reinforced polymer profiles are proposed in this research for multi-scenario applications, and their mechanical robustness was evaluated by bending experiments.

Suggested Citation

  • Yiqing Dai & Yan Yin & Yundi Lu, 2021. "Strategies to Facilitate Photovoltaic Applications in Road Structures for Energy Harvesting," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-14, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:21:p:7097-:d:669181
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Dibin Zhu, 2022. "Advance Energy Harvesting Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-3, March.
    2. Nithesh Naik & P. Suresh & Sanjay Yadav & M. P. Nisha & José Luis Arias-Gonzáles & Juan Carlos Cotrina-Aliaga & Ritesh Bhat & Manohara D. Jalageri & Yashaarth Kaushik & Aakif Budnar Kunjibettu, 2023. "A Review on Composite Materials for Energy Harvesting in Electric Vehicles," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-19, April.
    3. Jiang, Wei & Zhang, Shuo & Wang, Teng & Zhang, Yufei & Sha, Aimin & Xiao, Jingjing & Yuan, Dongdong, 2024. "Evaluation method for the availability of solar energy resources in road areas before route corridor planning," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 356(C).
    4. Marius Minea & Cătălin Marian Dumitrescu, 2022. "On the Feasibility and Efficiency of Self-Powered Green Intelligent Highways," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-32, June.

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