It only took six months, but the Netherlands' first solar-powered bike path already created enough energy to power a single person's home for an entire year.
The tech-friendly trail in Krommenie is reportedly widely acclaimed among the estimated 150,000 bikers who've crossed its surface.
So far, SolaRoad says its pathway created about 3,000 kWh of electricity -- enough to "power an electric scooter to drive 2.5 times around the world."
In a press release, a spokesperson for the company said,
We did not expect a yield as high as this so quickly... If we translate this to an annual yield, we expect more than the 70 kWh per square meter per year, which we predicted as an upper limit in the laboratory stage.
SolaRoad, which opened mid-November, is about 230 feet long and made up of solar cells placed under a specially-coated layer of tempered glass.
The road observes the sun's rays during the day, enabling SolaRoad researchers to document their product in real time.
Developers even laid the road flush with a traditional concrete path.
The information is extremely useful, considering the pathway is still in the beginning phase of its three-year trial period.
Citations: The first solar bike path is producing more energy than expected (Engadget)
