That Dutch Solar-Panel Bike Lane Really Works

A year ago the Dutch town of Krommenie made bicycling even greener by opening a bike path composed of solar panels. This had never been done before, so it was anyone’s guess whether it would succeed as either a path or an energy source. Now the results are in, and they’re not too shabby.

The solar bike path has generated 9,800 kilowatt-hours of energy, according to an update posted on the project’s website. That’s enough to power three households for a year. What’s even more impressive is that, as SolaRoad’s Sten de Wit explained to Fast Company, the results exceeded what the creators were expecting: Their lab assessments of how things like pollution and shade from people using the paths would affect the solar generation led them to underestimate the output.