Generating 21,450,000 kWh* of clean energy per 1km
*based on 2100 hours of sunlight per year
“Solar Highways preserve valuable farmland, protect environment, reduce road maintenance costs and increase traffic safety, while producing low price energy, close to the consumers. “
Affordable “Green” Energy
Price as low as $0.15/kWh.
1km of solar highway, 44 meters wide, can power up to 3,500 homes for one year.
Solar Highways will integrade charging station, hydrogen station and remote charging.
Taking Care of the Environment
Solar Highways conserve valuable farmland for better use – to produce food rather than energy.
Solar Highways have no carbon footprint other than initial build.
Solar Highways reduce noise and light pollution – a barrier for streetlights and traffic sounds, plus have a potential for future CO2 capture.
Positive Community Impact
Provides communities with low-cost, green power for manufacturing, commercial, and residential customers.
Creates thousands of jobs and boosts local economy.
Complements existing government programs – Participation in renewable power policies, environmental policies, etc.
Large-scale infrastructure project with long-lasting societal benefits.
Easy To Implement
Integrates with existing road and power grid infrastructure.
Quickly initiated – no need to re-designate land with by-law/zoning changes or build power lines to remote solar farms.
Designed to be built from pre-fabricated components, connected on-site with standardized quality and short development time.
Solar Highways Unique Attributes
Industry-leading, patented construction process and component design leverages existing technologies in a new way.
Scalable Modular Design
Start with 1km and extend the Solar Highway in phases as required.
Modular design allows extending sections in 12m increments to any length of highway.
Energizing by 250m phasing provides more immediate power production.
Patented Technical Solutions
Square tubing steel columns and trusses for strong and light-weight construction with life span of 100 years or more.
Long-span grids up to 44m.
Innovative Panel Implementation
Solar panels installed directly to trusses with 5-35 degrees angle for maximum energy capture and snow slide-off based on location.
Frameless solar panel design creates a water-tight roof with maximum solar collection surface, while requiring minimal maintenance.
1m x 2m panels deliver 400 W/h for up to 30 years.
Sun + Wind = More Clean Energy
Sun + Wind
=
More Clean Energy
Cylindrical wind turbines attached to the Solar Highway generate more clean energy, both from the passing vehicles and from the natural wind.
The environmental impact of cylindrical turbines is very low.
Creating Jobs & Boosting Local Economy
Direct jobs in the steel, solar panel, concrete, construction, and other industries.
Indirect jobs in all supporting services.
On a km-for-km basis, the Solar Highway creates 10 – 20 times the number of direct jobs as an oil pipeline.
Locally sourced raw materials
We stipulate the use of local raw materials if available, so every aspect of solar highways will, to the extent possible, be 100% local.
Locally manufactured products
To the extent possible, all components will be locally manufactured products from local distributors, transported to local construction sites
“High paying construction jobs and indirect jobs to benefit all local stakeholders.”
Every $1 million invested in efficiency programs generates 30 to 52 job-years.
Every dollar spent on energy efficiency programs yields a GDP increase of between $5 and $8.
“1,000 kms of Solar Highways will create 53,000 direct construction jobs + 25,000 indirect jobs”
“Job and salary growth projections for the renewable industry are growing at rates faster than other industries.”
Source: Clean Energy Canada
“Canada’s clean energy sector employed 298,000 Canadians as of 2017. What’s more, it’s growing in value by 4.8% every year—a third faster than Canada’s economy as a whole (3.6%).”
Source: Business Insider
“New research says job growth from clean energy will dramatically outpace that from fossil fuels over the next decade — as long as future Canadian governments maintain or increase attempts to fight climate change.”
Source: Toronto Star
“Clean Energy Transition Could Create 4 Million Canadian Construction Jobs. Report: Columbia Institute – Jobs for Tomorrow – Canada’s Building Trades and Net Zero Emissions.”
Source: Columbia Institute
Road Maintenance & Traffic Safety
The Invisible Profit From Secondary Benefits
Depending on the local climate/geography, these benefits may be realized:
Road Maintenance
- Protects the roadways from sun damage
- Reduced road repairs by diminishing the effects of the freeze-thaw cycle
- Reduced snow ploughing
- Protects the roadways from salt damage
- Reduced bridge repairs due to salt damage
Environment
- Reduced salt migration (seepage into groundwater) and contamination of drinking water
- Reduced salt contamination of adjacent farmland
Public Costs & Safety
- Reduced salt purchases
- Reduced vehicle salt damage
- Dry roads and better lighting for safer driving
Project Design Objectives
Mitigate Risk
👉 A new configuration of mature technologies
(e.g., parking lot solar roofs have been in use for years and big solar farms)
👉 Proprietary, resilient design, with key components protected by patents
👉 Easily assembled on-site
Economical & Scalable
👉 Smallest size = 1 km
(and can be extended in 12m increments)
👉 No limits on length of highway
“Building Blocks” Strategy
👉 Exploit existing technologies
👉 Use off-the-shelf components
Business Model
Innovative implementation of well-established and proven solar technologies guarantees a compelling business model with payback in 7 – 10 years.
Connection
Solar highways are easily connected to the existing electrical grid, which are typically close to communities and highways.
Converting to renewables would require doubling the size of the high-voltage transmission energy grid – this is minimal with Solar Highways.
Power Storage
To overcome the usual challenge of intermittent, weather-dependent power, and to maintain a steady energy delivery, hydrogen plants, gravity storage, and/or batteries are used for storing energy.
Power storage enables management of peak and trough demand – store at peak production and sell at high demand.
Additional Services
Car charging stations connected directly to the Solar Highway grid
Dynamic wireless charging while traveling (when commercially available)
LED street lighting
CO2 collectors
Camera-based toll collection
Co-located cell-phone towers and WiFi transmitters
Laser guidance for autonomous vehicles
Opportunity Potential
Build over any highway which is exposed to sunlight – a very large, untapped land resource.
Location Impact
Generate clean, green power close to consumers. Locate energy supply close to towns and cities.
Rapid Development
Unique assembly process with pre-fabricated components ensure standardized build quality on-site and ultra-fast development process.
Investment Possibilities
Public-private partnerships with faster payback than traditional solar farms.
1km of Solar Highway in Numbers
COSTS
Materials Costs per 1km
(solar panels, trusses, beams, concrete)
Labour Costs per 1km
(construction, construction management)
Total Costs per 1km
$40M (USD)
REVENUE
Annual Revenue per 1 km
$5.1M (USD)
(Initial $3.2M @ $0.15 – ramps up to $5.1M, by adding wind turbines and off-peak power sales.)
Solar Highways International Inc.
9000 Keele Street Unit 3
Concord
Ontario, Canada • L4K 0B3
© Solar Highways International 2022