The potential of PV panels near road infrastructure in the Netherlands – P. Jochems
Energy from PV panels is considered as very important to decrease the greenhouse gas emissions and leave behind some fossil energy sources for future generations. In the Netherlands space is scarce and not all buildings are suitable for PV. Unused land space or noise barriers near road infrastructure can be used for PV. Ideally, the revenues can contribute to maintain our high quality main road network. In this paper, the feasibility or potential for a road section in the Netherlands is determined. This is done by using a costs benefit analysis, complemented with a sensitivity analysis. Three technical variants are considered and compared. Besides the economic aspects, also issues as legal, technical, practical, contract and learned lessons are considered to draw conclusions about the potential. It can be concluded that PV panels near road infrastructure can be
profitable in combination with a DBFM project and is interesting to investors. PV panels in an open field configuration is currently more profitable than a Photovoltaic Noise Barrier(PVNB).