Poland has installed solar panels along the S5 Expressway as part of a project to lower the operating costs of the infrastructure. Surplus electricity feeds the schedule or supplies charging stations for electric vehicles.
A pilot project in Poland is the use of renewable energy sources near service areas along a large highway.
The installations include a micro-zonne array with a vertical east-west layout using bifacial solar panels and wealth optimizers. The project also has solar panels with different micro-inverters installed in different configurations.
The pilot project also includes wind turbines, an energy storage system of 10 kWh, chargers on electric vehicles and a heat pump for water water. All components are installed to prevent road safety.
All installations, which have been working since February, are near two service areas on the S5 Expressway, a highway of more than 350 km running from Grudziądz in North Poles to Wrocław in the southwest.
The electricity helps to lower the operating costs for road infrastructure and to increase the energy dependence of the road manager. Each surplus is sold to the grid or used to power charge stations with electric vehicles.
Poznań University of Technology leads the research under its Road Innovation Development Program, supported by the National Center for Research and Development and Poland’s General Directorate for National Roads and Snelwegen (GDDKIA).
Scientists from the university collect data about the output of the solar and wind systems, as well as performance statistics of the storage unit. The information will inform the design of future hybrid energy systems that are tailored to the infrastructure of GDDKIA.
“The results obtained form the basis for selecting the most economic, ecological and functionally advantageous system for obtaining, storing and distributing electricity from renewable sources with the help of infrastructure in the road area,” said GDDKIA.
Poland added 4 GW solar energy in 2024, so that the cumulative installed capacity was brought to nearly 21 GW.
In February, the government reopened its loan and subsidy program for national solar installations. Later it launched a $ 1 billion energy storage subsidy scheme, which was closed for applications at the end of May.
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