Wattway: world first in Vendée for the Colas solar route

This first solar road project is a development phase, led by pioneering customers such as the Vendée department. It will make it possible to study in situ the functionalities and potentials both energy and economic of Wattway.

The first pilot site of this breakthrough innovation, supported by the department of Vendée, is part of the energy transition policy and support for the development of the electric car. Wattway is a solution which is part of the “Vendée Energies Nouvelles” plan which has three objectives: 50% of the electrical energy consumed in Vendée will be produced in a renewable manner from 2025 (compared to 10% today), a strong awareness of the Vendeans on energy savings and the development of eco-mobility.

A hundred projects to come around the world at the end of 2017

For Jean-Charles Broizat, Director of Wattway, “During this stage of Wattway development, the application sites will allow us to experiment with the uses of this disruptive technology. We will thus test different architectures of electrical networks combined with concrete applications using the energy produced by Wattway. Each pilot site will be monitored and the data collected analyzed. The Colas Scientific & Technical Campus (CST) will study the road behavior of Wattway slabs while CEA Tech researchers will analyze information relating to electrical production. It is from the hundred pilot sites thus installed across France and the world, that the most relevant solutions for the market will be validated by CST and CEA Tech and that offers will be built for the marketing phase. , from 2018. ".

The first charging station for electric cars powered by Wattway

This first application will allow us to test one of the uses of this French innovation. Composed of 42 tiles covering 50 m² of floor space in the Vendéspace car park, this pilot site dedicated to recharging electric vehicles will produce 6 kWh / year. A unique place in France, a real concentrate of technologies, Vendéspace, a sports and cultural complex in the Grand Ouest, offers equipment of excellence in terms of its modularity, aesthetics and acoustics. It is innovative inside and outside now, of its enclosure.

For Alain Leboeuf, Deputy for Vendée, President of SyDEV *, President of the Infrastructures, Networks and Mobilities Commission of the department "SyDEV has long been engaged in the production of electricity from renewable sources, in particular photovoltaics, and in the sustainable mobility. He immediately wanted to be a pioneer on the Wattway project. In this operation, SyDEV supported the Department and the company Colas on the electrical aspects. He participated in the definition of works to connect the installations to the distribution network, set up the charging station for electric mobility. A display panel will communicate on the performance of the installations and raise awareness among our fellow citizens on the emergence of these cutting-edge technologies that are settling in our territories. The choice of the Colas Company to develop, in preview, this innovation on our territory is the recognition of the capacity of our communities to resolutely engage in innovation. It is this capacity to innovate that allows our department to hold the very first ranks in the field of energy and sustainable mobility. "

For Yves Auvinet, Chairman of the Departmental Council of Vendée “With its maritime facade and its oceanic climate, the Vendée benefits from priceless and inexhaustible natural wealth to make the energy transition, a major lever of our economic development. The Vendée never ceases to undertake and innovate to meet the ecological challenge of the XNUMXst century. New illustration today with this quintessential French innovation and world exclusivity. I would like to thank the Colas company for having chosen the Vendée region to experiment with Wattway and thus make our roads a new source of energy, because in matters of energy transition, our responsibility is to convince and set an example. "

What is Wattway?

Wattway is a French co-invention of Colas and CEA Tech. It is in the form of an installation made up of extremely robust photovoltaic panels which are installed on all roads, connected to electrical equipment or network, thus forming an innovative renewable energy production solution. It is particularly suited to the development of smart grid applications and short circuits of electrical production, at a time of energy transition and the revolution of electric mobility. Wattway is a solution that changes our outlook on the road by bringing it a second functionality: the production of solar energy. By the diversity of its uses, it is a breakthrough innovation, which tomorrow will supply public lighting and road signaling equipment in urban, peri-urban or rural areas, charging stations for electric vehicles (bikes, motorcycles, cars), isolated hamlets, positive energy buildings, transport infrastructure.

* Vendée departmental energy and equipment union

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