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Strategies & Market Trends : Dino's Bar & Grill -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Goose94 who wrote (12820)	5/12/2015 1:16:23 PM
From: Goose94	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 202413

Future Looks Bright For Solar Roads, Silver The future looks bright and sunny for a unique solar project in the Netherlands, as its energy production has surpassed expectations. May 7, SolaRoad, the first road in the world to produce solar electricity, announced it has generated 3,000 kilowatt-hours after only six months. “We did not expect a yield as high as this so quickly,” said Sten de Wit, spokesman of SolaRoad, in a press release. “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. We can therefore conclude that it was a successful first half year.” To put the test track’s electricity production into perspective, de Wit said that 3,000 kWh can provide enough electricity for a single-family home for an entire year or power an electric scooter to drive more than twice around the world Kitco’s Tech Metals Insider first reported on SolaRoads in late-November, after the 70-meter bicycle path in Krommenie -- located just outside of Amsterdam -- was opened to the public. Not only has the path surpassed energy production expectations but it has been popular among cyclists as more than 150,000 people have travelled on the panels. “They hardly notice it is a special path, therefore our goal of acceptance has also been achieved,” the organization said in the press release. The solar track is made with concrete modules with one side fitted with solar cells underneath tempered glass. According to the press release the other side of the track is simple concrete and is used to test various coatings. However, the first six months of the project, which is supported by a Dutch independent research organization named TNO, has not been without its challenges. In the press release the organization said the coating on a small section of the path delaminated in December and early spring, probably due to changes in temperature. “Repairs have been made and the development of an improved top layer is now in an advanced stage,” the organization said. The success of the SolaRoad’s project could have important implications for the silver market. Monday, precious metals analysts at HSBC released an updated outlook on the silver market, saying that photovoltaic demand is a potential growth area for the white metal. The analysts said that half of all industrial demand this year could come from solar applications. “The long-term demand for solar power – and with it silver for photovoltaic and other applications – appears to be positive. According to two 2014 reports from the International Energy Agency, solar power could be the world’s largest source of electricity by 2050,” the analysts said in the report.