Germany’s Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) has estimated that Germany could add up to 48GW of photovoltaic panels to its road network.
The assessment, made in a report for the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport, said the results of its study were “far-reaching”.
It said: “For the first time, precise orders of magnitude of the potential on roofs, car parks and roadside areas as well as on noise berms and barriers are available nationwide.”
According to BASt, the country has 50,000km of major roads that could host PV panels, and the Federal Autobahn agency is working on a national registry to identify where they are.
The PV may be installed by the public sector, or grants and permissions may be made available to private sector investors. Some of the legal preparations for this have already been made.
Unlike a French initiative of a few years ago, no solar panels will be incorporated in the pavement of the road itself (see further reading).
Susanne Henckel, Germany’s transport secretary, said her ministry would look for opportunities to install solar systems during the planning, construction and expansion of the country’s road network.
She said: “We already created the legal framework in 2023 with the Approval Acceleration Act, which accelerates and simplifies the expansion of photovoltaic systems on and along federal motorways. Now, together with Autobahn, we are quickly initiating the next steps necessary for practical applications.”
• Subscribe here to get stories about construction around the world in your inbox three times a week.
