How many watts of solar energy is on the road

Generally, the intensity of solar radiation received by a highway is low around sunrise and sunset. Therefore, the potential of solar energy lost during these periods is small, even if the highway is shadowed by surrounding terrain. 4.3. Assessment of the solar energy potential of highways in China

The annual solar energy potential of Chinese highways at the prefecture-level city scale. According to the obtained results, the highway solar energy potential in China is 3,932 TW. Fig. 9 shows that cities with high highway solar energy potential is mostly located in the northwest, north, and south-central parts of China.

Based on the highway data with a total mileage of 143,684 km at the end of 2020, the results show that the annual PV potential is 3,932 TW and that the corresponding installed capacity is 700.85 GW, which can generate clean electricity at a rate of up to 629.06 TWh.

By 2020, the mileage of Chinese highway was 143,684 km and the area was 3,957 km 2. The installed capacity and power generation of PV highways in China are 700.85 GW and 629.06 TWh, respectively. Installing photovoltaic (PV) modules on highways is considered a promising way to support carbon neutrality in China.

The annual solar energy received by the highways in each highway block can be acquired through the summation of all calculated hourly solar energy potential. Furthermore, highway tunnel segments cannot receive solar radiation.

According to previous research, the solar radiation received by ground features such as flat roofs and roads in the same area is very similar to the solar radiation on the natural surface. Therefore, the solar radiation on a highway is equivalent to the surface solar radiation at the land surface in China.