Right-of-way renewable energy resources available on SSTI website

The goal of SSTI’s recently created Renewable Energy in the Right of Way resource page is to facilitate the sharing of technical documents related to siting renewable energy — principally solar — projects in the highway ROW. It is a living repository of technical documents for state DOTs and others to use as examples as they develop their own ROW renewable energy projects.

Renewable Energy in the Right of Way

At SSTI’s first Sustainability Directors Community of Practice meeting in June 2015, attendees discussed their states’ interest in siting solar and other renewable energy generation facilities in the highway right-of-way but cited uncertainty regarding FHWA rules and unfamiliarity with the business side of renewable energy production as major hurdles. In an effort to support these efforts and allow interested states to learn from others, SSTI has gathered the technical documents gathered here, under the headings below, comprise a living repository for state DOTs and others to use as examples as they develop their own ROW renewable energy projects.

FHWA encourages ROW solar facilities

As DOTs look to meet environmental goals and bring in revenue, several have turned to using building roofs and surplus ROW to site solar-electric generating systems. To help give practitioners a grounding in some of the issues they may encounter, FHWA has published a new online guide: Renewable Energy Generation in the Highway Right-of-Way.

FHWA encourages ROW solar facilities

As DOTs look to meet environmental goals and bring in revenue, several have turned to using building roofs and surplus ROW to site solar-electric generating systems. To help give practitioners a grounding in some of the issues they may encounter, FHWA has published a new online guide: Renewable Energy Generation in the Highway Right-of-Way.

Airports eyed as sites for alternative energy production

A recent report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the FAA, and Mississippi State University examines the use of airports and surrounding areas as ideal locations for the production of alternative energy. Biofuel production and solar arrays seem especially suited to these areas, since they are often open grasslands.

Oregon leads the way on use of solar installations for transportation facilities

Although begun in 2008, the largest component yet of the Oregon Solar Highway recently opened on I-5 in Clackamas County. The Baldock project, a public-private partnership between ODOT and Portland General Electric (PGE), is an array in a safety rest area near Wilsonville. Solar installations in transportation corridors are common in Europe, but are almost unknown in the U.S. However, Oregon plans more, and has also produced a manual, which can be downloaded.

Glass roads?

“There’s 25,000 square miles of road surfaces, parking lots and driveways in the lower 48 states. If we covered that with solar panels with just 15 percent efficiency, we’d produce three times more electricity than …