Dutch researchers study solar panels to draw solar energy

When it comes to solar energy, the first thing that comes to mind in most people's minds is the solar panels on the roof, but the Dutch have even greater ambitions: use solar panels on ordinary roads to build an efficient, inexpensive energy supply system. .

According to the Xinhua News Agency reporter from the “Solar Way” project team of the Dutch Academy of Applied Sciences, Witt says that sunlight is a very divergent energy source and therefore needs a large light-receiving surface to collect energy.

The practice of placing solar panels on the roof is well known, but the future development of solar technology requires more space than the roof.

"The road is a very good choice, because the road area in the Netherlands is twice the area of ​​the roof."

Witt said, "Simply put, this solar energy road is divided into three layers. The bottom layer is a concrete-like carrying layer, the middle is a solar cell layer, and the surface is a transparent pavement layer that can collect sunlight."

However, although the road provides a wider area than the roof to place solar cells to make electricity, this idea needs to solve many problems, mainly including how to increase the efficiency of solar cells and meet the traffic demand of ordinary roads.

To this end, researchers have invented a new type of solar cell system that collects the sunlight absorbed by the road surface onto a small, high-efficiency solar cell through a condenser device.

Witt said: "In this way, our demand for expensive solar cells is reduced, and we can make a relatively cheap solar road."

In order to obtain more sunlight, the road surface is, of course, more transparent and better. However, the more transparent it is, the smoother it is, and the road surface resistance is not enough. This will cause many safety hazards, which is another major challenge for the solar energy road.

Victor said: "The road to the solar energy road must first be a decent road, that is to say, we must satisfy it as all the requirements and conditions of the road surface, including roughness, friction and hardness.

"On the other hand, it must also be able to transmit enough light so that the solar panels implanted within it can maximize its photoelectric conversion capabilities."

It is reported that researchers are currently testing a variety of glass friction and hardness parameters, but have not yet found the most suitable material.

Witt said: "Although there is no best plan yet, we have some choices now. We will lay out experimental roads in a small town near Amsterdam next year."

According to estimates by scientists, each square meter of solar roads they build can produce about 50 kwh of electricity each year. The annual electricity consumption of each household in the Netherlands is about 3,500 kWh.

Therefore, an average of 70 square meters of solar roads can provide enough electricity for a family.

As far as the current situation is concerned, solar energy, as a new energy source, is not the bottleneck of its development.

The cost of solar cells is too high. This is the real bottleneck for using solar energy. Solar energy is called "gray energy" in the Netherlands because the price of solar power is three times that of traditional electricity.

However, Witt believes that research cannot be stopped for this purpose.

“From the current time point of view, solar energy is indeed more expensive than other energy sources. But I think things are changing rapidly and the cost will soon come down.

"I firmly believe that solar energy will certainly become an important part of the energy supply system in the future."