# Electricity-Generating Solar Roads France's 'Wattway' Powers Street Lighting in a Small Village By Laura McQuarrie | Published 2016-12-30 | Autos Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/solar-road References: [treehugger](http://www.treehugger.com/solar-technology/france-now-home-worlds-first-solar-road.html) & [wattwaybycolas](http://www.wattwaybycolas.com/en/) Along a six-mile stretch of roadway in a village in Normandy, France is an all-new solar road that's been dubbed the 'Wattway.' The solar road features 2,880 [solar panels](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/rajasthan-updates) with polycrystalline silicon cells that are capable of transforming energy from the sun into usable electricity. In the village of Tourouvre-au-Perche, it is estimated that Colas' Wattway solar pavement will be used by about 2,000 motorists each day. The [electricity generated](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/solar-energy-technology) by the solar road system will be fed into a network that belongs to French electric provider Enedis and used to power the street lights in the village. From now, a two-year test of the solar road will be conducted to determine if the use of these kinds of roads would be of benefit for the rest of the country. ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 3.3/10 - Popularity: 36% | Activity: 56% | Freshness: 8% - Audience gender: 50% men, 50% women - Primary generations: Millennial, Gen X - Top markets: Europe ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Autos](https://www.trendhunter.com/autos) ## Key Themes ### What Makes This Trend Stand Out - **Electricity-generating Solar Roads:** Creating infrastructure that generates electricity through solar roads. - **Wattway:** Developing and implementing Colas' solar pavement system to power street lighting. - **Renewable Energy Integration:** Exploring ways to integrate renewable energy generation into existing infrastructure. ### Sectors Adopting This - **Transportation:** Developing solar road technology to improve energy efficiency and sustainability in transportation infrastructure. - **Renewable Energy:** Harnessing the power of solar energy to generate electricity for various applications like street lighting. - **Smart City:** Integrating renewable energy systems like solar roads to create more sustainable and energy-efficient urban environments. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Futuristic Solar-Powered Vehicles](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/lightyear-0.md) - [Solar-Powered Sleek Bikes](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/the-solaris.md) - [Grid-Connected Pavilions](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/solar-electric-pavilion.md) - [Consolidated Photovoltaic Systems](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/photovoltaic-systems.md) - [Urban Solar Charging Benches](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/perovia.md) - [Solar-Powered City Cars](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/city-cars.md) - [Roof-Mounted EV Charging Systems](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/gosun-sun.md) - [Tree-Inspired Solar Panel Systems](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/solarbotanic-energy-tree.md) - [Solar-Powered Blankets](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/solarpowered-blanket.md)