Solar Roadways: The 2014 Solar Road Idea and What Happened Next

In 2014 a cheerful YouTube video called “Solar FREAKIN’ Roadways!” asked a simple question: why not pave roads with glass solar panels that generate electricity, light up their own lane markings and melt snow? Millions watched, and an Idaho couple’s invention became the most-backed campaign Indiegogo had ever seen.

The Solar Roadways idea

Solar Roadways Inc. was founded in 2006 by Scott and Julie Brusaw in Sandpoint, Idaho. Their design replaces asphalt with hexagonal panels: a tough textured glass driving surface over solar cells, LEDs that can draw road markings and warnings, and heating elements to keep the surface free of snow and ice. Cables for power and data would run in a corridor beside the road.

The US Federal Highway Administration funded early research through Small Business Innovation Research grants: $100,000 in 2009 to test feasibility, and $750,000 in 2011, which the Brusaws used to build a 12-by-36-foot solar parking lot. Further contracts followed in 2015 and 2016.

The 2014 video and Indiegogo campaign

The Indiegogo campaign launched in April 2014, and the promotional video went viral after a boost from actor George Takei. It raised about $2.2 million, and by number of backers it became the platform’s most popular campaign up to that time.

The video promised a lot: roads that pay for themselves, charge electric cars and generate more energy than the country uses. Engineers and journalists pushed back quickly. ExtremeTech estimated that covering US roads would cost around $56 trillion at $10,000 per 12-by-12-foot section, and Scientific American noted that the glass the design needed did not yet exist.

The Sandpoint pilot results

The first public installation opened on 30 September 2016 in Jeff Jones Town Square in Sandpoint, as a pedestrian walkway, not a road. It used 30 SR3 panels covering about 150 square feet and cost roughly $60,000.

Output was disappointing. In its best month, August 2018, the whole array averaged about a quarter of a kilowatt-hour per day, while a single ordinary rooftop panel produces around 1.45 kWh per day. LEDs faded, and in winter snow caused problems with the heating, partly because of metal strips between the panels. The pilot was shut down in December 2018.

Why snow and flat glass are hard problems

Solar roads face basic physical limits. Panels laid flat on the ground cannot be tilted towards the Sun, they are often shaded by vehicles, and the thick glass needed to carry traffic cuts the light reaching the cells. They also run hot without the air cooling that raised panels enjoy.

Snow melting is the toughest challenge for a winter climate. Critics point out that heating a road surface would need far more energy than the panels could collect, even in ideal conditions, which is exactly when snow is falling and the Sun is low.

Other solar-road trials have struggled too. France’s Wattway road in Tourouvre-au-Perche, about one kilometre long and opened in December 2016, produced around half of its expected electricity in its first year, and output fell sharply as the surface deteriorated.

Solar Roadways today

The company is still based in Sandpoint. Its website now presents an SR5 panel, with its electronics moved to an external “Brain Box” for easier upgrades, aluminium in place of glass on the back and a weight cut from 75 to 35 pounds, and describes the design as moving from prototype to production. It suggests driveways, sidewalks and parking areas as early uses.

Explore more: another ambitious design concept and technology and weather-inspired design.

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