Solar Freakin Walkways

[dan_b]

I feel like I've heard this record before?!

https://cleantechnica.com/2024/08/27/pv ... lications/

[resybaby]

Not so sure of this idea myself.

Other than the slippiness of such a panel, despite the claim of non slip, id be worried about small stones etc creating a point load on any of the glass. Kinda like the elephant vs the stilleto comparrason.

Currently Im pottering about in a pair of these Skechers. Nice and comfy.

But the amount of stones they pick up is horrendous. Sometimes i sound like a tap dancer wandering along whilst 'stealing' all the gravel from the local road surfaces. Just wonder if such things on glass is remotely wise?

[Mart]

Have to admit I was surprised at the power, which seems to scale up to ~350Wp v's a 1.1m by 1.78m panel. Assuming that's the rating after install with the tough glass(?) then that's actually reasonable v's say .... ~450Wp.

But why bother. If you did this in a garden you'd end up with chairs and tables on it, so a PV pergola makes more sense. And whilst I think the looks are nice in the article, you do need a sunny area. For many places a well designed walkway with a solar canopy could look just as nice, and give some weather protection, or even shade, if it's too sunny.

I've tried for 30mins to come up with some 'Devil's advocate' argument, but I'm struggling hard here.

[Moxi]

If the loading was right then this sort of application might be ok in an otherwise paved area that is notionally empty in the day but used for storage (vehicles, trailer units?) at night But I suspect the costs to install, clean and the limitations would all count against it, again its another one of those brilliant ideas that "we can do this" without anyone having applied the "should we be doing this?" brakes.

One for the following generations to utilise if the environment and circumstances dictate a more favourable application, so good idea wrong time in my opinion.

Moxi

[nowty]

Tech spec here, but I suspect the price will be the killer.
https://www.pvfloor.com/en/_files/ugd/8 ... 952dd7.pdf

[jonc_uk]

Looks like the same system used for suspended floors in offices.

I can see this being used on the continent - a house with a roof terrace which is unused most of the time, but you don't want to fill with a ground mount system.

[Tay]

They look lovely and marvelously shiney and mirror like, what could possibly go wrong..

Surely nobody would complain about being able to see up my Kilt (or dress as its been described before).