Vita International, based in Tecnaalia and Italy, have designed a new photovoltaic crash barrier, which will be testing later this year on a 100-meter piece of a highway service area between Turin and Triest, Italy.
The Tecnaalia and Vita International, established in Spain, in Italy, which designs and produces timber barriers, have developed photovoltaic guardrails for motorways and roads.
A 100-meter part of a highway service area between Turin and Trieste, Italy, will organize a test later this year to assess the performance of the guard rail in all seasons. The project is part of the European Liaison Initiative, which promotes circularity and sustainability in transport infrastructure.
The system is expected to generate around 25 MWh per kilometer annually, said Eduardo Román, head of the PV team of Tecnalia.
The guardrail includes a flat sheet tilted slightly, where the solar panels are mounted, said Irina Mella Burlacu, founder of Vita International. She said that this design also adds a safety function for motorcyclists.
The photovoltaic guard rail supplies electricity for street lamps, traffic signals and tunnel ventilation, reducing energy costs for road authorities, said Burlacu. It can also feed signage and lighting in areas without access to grid.
The European road network, with more than 136,700 km, has a considerable potential for generating solar energy. Roads can be converted into energy sources that can supply electricity to more than 8 million people. The infrastructure also undergoes constant upgrades, including paving replacement and ballast maintenance.
In 2020, the European Union used more than 600 million tons (MT) aggregates, nearly 44 million MT cement and more than 208 million tons of asphalt for road construction and maintenance. Civil technical solutions for transport infrastructure have been historic carbon intensive, said David García Sánchez, coordinator of the Liaison. He emphasized the need to extend the lifespan of infrastructure and to develop circular solutions.
The connection project focuses on promoting contract and bid processes to support the approval of these technologies.
Sánchez said that the project develops road-concrete plates with the help of environmentally friendly geopolymers instead of cement and the use of 3D printing to manufacture rays from recycled materials. When recycling is not possible, he said that blockchain and digital twin technologies help to follow materials and components.
The companies said that concrete, steel and asphalt have the largest environmental impact. To maximize reuse, they work together with material banks – repositories where materials can be depicted and depicted when they are no longer needed.
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