EEVblog 1591 - MORE Colas Wattway Solar Cycleways in the Netherlands!

With a quick search I see it's in Drimmelen. On the N285 between Langeweg en Wagenberg

During all that talking about the Netherlands it seems you have missed the BEST news! SolaRoad, the company behind the solar cyclepath in Maartensdijk, the "longest in the Netherlands", that produced only 1/4 of the predicted output, has gone OUT OF BUSINESS! The poor director blames the 1/4 result on "trees along the bikepath that gave shade and dirt". Yeah, surely these weren't there when they constructed the solar path. And, as you also saw in the other example, the typical Dutch road with bikepath almost always has trees along it. Now that there is no more backing from the company, he says that "should not affect the trial as the path will provide electricity for the coming years"... Well, we will have to see that. I think it will be demolished before next summer.

The solar cycle path closest to me in Krommenie (the Netherlands) is being replaced by a regular cycle path because of all the problems it had. There was a piece about it in a local paper last week on January 3th It's in Dutch but if you google '' de orkaan, de stekker uit Solaroad'' it's the first article. With a translator you could probably read it

Whenever projects that are known to fail are publicly funded, there's two questions that immediately come to mind: 1) are the ministers who approved it actually that stupid? and 2) how much of a kickback are they getting for funding this nonsense?

Imagine, like, if they'd just put it on top of a canopy so bike riders have protection from the rain as they cycle around. We could call it, like, solar roofway or something.

As a Dutch person, I feel deeply ashamed. Mostly also why people can't follow very simple basic logic that's being taught at high school?

As a Dutch guy, I feel so embarrassed by this. Our infrastructure is generally top notch..

It's our (I'm Dutch) way to promote and indirectly finance EEVblog. And ofcourse we hope Dave will visit The Netherlands eventually.

I don't get the logic, what is the point of put some fragile thing in the ground so everybody can stomp it?

It seems to be in Drimmelen. The provincie Noord Brabant payed 1,1 million Euro for it. The provincie is like a state, just 1/12th part of the Netherlands. Yee, that's where we pay our taxes for...

"So, how much greenwashing vaporware do you want?" Netherlands: yes.

Ft Carson US Army Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, had solar panels lifted above some parking lots, and it was so nice to park under them in the summer or when it was raining/snowing. They also covered unused/untraveled land with the panels, as well as putting it on a lot of base housing roofs. I liked how they did it. Unfortunately when I was stationed there it was hit by a big hail storm with grapefruit sized hail and that destroyed a bunch of the panels, but that was 6 years ago and I am sure they have repaired them all by now.

Scams like "Solar Roadways" will continue for as long as "other people's money" (be it from web based platforms like "kickstarter" or similar) or government funding for these stupid "trials" continues . Now if only I could get myself funded for a "trial" where I just sit at home eating Ice-cream and Chocolate Biscuits, while watching Netflix.

the photos are form near vijfhuizen, here are the cords: 52°22'09.0"N 4°42'08.5"E

Solar cycleways / walkways are a fantastic idea! Wait... Why TF did they put the panels on the ground, when for less cost, they could make shaded cycleways with panels on top that produce more power and have lower maintenance costs?

Let's take a moment to appreciate how difficult engineering actual road surfaces is. The task is almost impossible given the expectations on value and cost per km.

Seen those glass platforms on popular look outs? See how blurry and opaque they get due to usage...

ya know what would be nice, is a cover for the cycle path that was solar... It would be nice to not get rained on while cycling

This has just inspired me to create a new kick starter project. Hamster wheel generator for mobile phone charging. There must be millions of pet hamster owners

"Peddling towards sustainability" reminds me of the stuff a decade and more ago when they were trying to attach generators to exercise bikes.