Skip to main content

Solaroad installed on cycle path to power roundabout, France

French road-building company Charier has introduced the SolarRoad kit (SRK) on a newly-laid cycle path in Etampes, France, that uses two SRK elements to convert sunlight to electricity and provide lighting for a roundabout. The installation helps Charier meet sustainability objectives within the framework of the Paris Agreement.
October 16, 2017 Read time: 1 min
French road-building company Charier has introduced the SolarRoad kit (SRK) on a newly-laid cycle path in Etampes, France, that uses two SRK elements to convert sunlight to electricity and provide lighting for a roundabout. The installation helps Charier meet sustainability objectives within the framework of the Paris Agreement.


The SRK has four elements of 2.5 x 3.5 meters and delivers approximately 3,500 kwh per year, which according to Solaroad, is enough energy to power an average household for one year. The technology can be applied to a business park, courtyard, square, bike path or a footpath. It can provide energy for lighting, illuminating a shop window, heating, Wi-Fi access points or, as now in Groningen, a charging point for e-bikes or mobile phones.

Related Content

  • September 13, 2016
    Volvo and KPMG find buses are key to urban air quality
    Buses can play a key role in the battle to improve air quality in towns and cities as David Crawford discovers. A city with a population of half a million would gain about US$12.3 million in annualised societal savings if all its buses ran on electricity instead of diesel. This is the conclusion of a wide-ranging analysis carried out by Swedish bus manufacturer Volvo Group and global business consultants KPMG.
  • October 4, 2019
    Paris to offer €500 help-to-buy for e-bikes
    Parisians are to be given a big financial incentive to get on two wheels next year, according to MSN News. The Île-de-France Mobilités transport authority – which covers the city of Paris and outer suburbs - plans to offer residents €500 to buy an electric bike from February. Valerie Pecresse, president of the authority, told Le Parisien she has submitted a proposal to provide a subsidiary for half the cost of an e-bike - capped at €500 - to all residents. On average, an e-bike can cost up to €2,000. "
  • April 8, 2019
    ChargeWheel sparks mobile EV charging in San Francisco
    ChargeWheel has secured $1 million in funding to launch a mobile electric vehicle (EV) charging network in the San Francisco Bay Area. The network will be based on ChargeWheel’s mobile Energy Trailers, which don’t require a connection to the grid, and can therefore operate in any car park. The company says they offer a combined solar-powered generation and energy storage solution, and plans to deploy 100 in the Bay Area by the end of 2019. The units can simultaneously charge four EVs or up to 400 electric
  • March 22, 2012
    APRR opts for LED lighting in Chamoise Tunnel
    French road operator APRR (Autoroute-Paris-Rhin-Rhône) has opted to replace obsolete sodium lamps with LED lighting in the 3.3km Chamoise Tunnel. The LEDs have four times the lifespan of high pressure sodium bulbs and are expected to cut energy use by 45 per cent, or some or 400,000kWh. Moreoever, APRR says the LED units also make lighting more uniform and colours are truer to their normal values, which helps drivers and the cameras that record incidents. Each tube of the tunnel will have 600 LED lamps, cos