If you’ve ever traveled this country’s highways, you’ve probably noticed that the 40 or so feet of ‘land’ immediately adjacent at the side of the road is almost always baron (aside from trash and the occasional road-kill). While this area next to highways is usually part of the right-of-way, making it unavailable for private development, it can still serve a very valuable function when it comes to renewable energy. Highways don’t have trees growing in them, so stretches of road with ideal solar orientation could provide countless miles of prime solar array real estate.
The Sunny Side Of Highway Use
The first place in the country to take advantage of this prime solar real estate is, as one would expect, Portland, Oregon where the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is now reaping the fruits of their initial ’solar highway’ project efforts. The project is a series linear arrays of photovoltaic panels installed along roadside land intended to offset, and eventually produce more than or equal to, the 47 million kWh of electricity the ODOT uses each year to run lights, signals, and other illuminated features. Ostensibly, the project achieves this by using the arrays as mini power plants to produce a certain amount of electricity during the day and then at night the equivalent amount of power is used to power ODOT devices. A ‘net-metering’ situation if you will.
To fulfill the full current annual power need of the ODOT, it is estimated that approximately 120 miles of roadside arrays, or less than 1 percent of state-owned land, would be needed. The current installed array is expected to generate 128,000 kWh which doesn’t sound like much when compared to the overall need, but it’s a good start for a pilot project being funded not by U.S. DOT money; but by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)green stimulus dollars.
Hurdles To Success
Having the DOE as a funding source for a DOT project, along with some local land owners who question the environmental consequences of the panel installation as well as the effect on their property values, has made further progress on a planned 3 megawatt roadside project slow-going and difficult.
Financing, operational costs, return on investment, and ultimate ownership are all crucial to the success of most renewable energy projects. Thankfully, Portland General Electric, the local power provider, has partnered with the ODOT on these projects and is enabling the electricity produced by these arrays to cost as much as fossil-fuel based electricity. Tax Fairness Oregon, a fiscal watchdog group, has also urged ODOT to ensure that ultimate ownership of the solar panels shifts to the public, rather than the private developers who provide initial funding.
Check out how the Oregon solar highway is doing and how much power it has produced, and is producing, today by going to the Oregon solar highway monitoring website. It’s pretty cool.
The Good: Possibly the best use for an otherwise unusable vast stretch of land. The output potential for roadside solar arrays is enormous.
The Bad: Solar panels and other equipment is vulnerable to thieves given the proximity to the road and minimal security measures. Panels are likely to get dirty more often from road spray; lowering their efficiency.
The Bottom-Line: A productive use of state-owned ‘unproductive’ land that with the right planning and operation could achieve its power generation goals.
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