An Austrian start-up has developed a road power plant that generates electricity when vehicles drive over it. Heavy trucks alone could generate 40,000 kilowatt hours in the port of Hamburg every year.
As part of the energy transition, researchers and companies are constantly developing new concepts. A new approach demonstrates how roads carrying heavy trucks can become so-called road power plants.
The Austrian company Road Energy Production Systems (REPS) commissioned a system at the port of Hamburg for this type of electricity generation. The road power plant works like a speed bump. As soon as heavy vehicles drive over them, they dent segments in the road surface.
The system mechanically transfers the resulting impulses from the road to an energy converter. This converter is based on the world’s first permanent magnetic bearing, which uses a patented magnetic suspension to generate almost no friction when converting mechanical energy into electrical energy.
Road power station generates electricity on roads
Simply put, the system converts braking energy into electricity in a roundabout way. The electricity generated is temporarily stored and can either be fed into a storage system or fed directly into the power grid as required.
The system only requires a penetration depth of eight to ten centimeters into the ground, allowing for quick and easy installation. All moving components, such as the triggers, should be replaceable. In addition, the road maintenance department can service all critical components outside of the roadway. This leads to greater safety as well as high efficiency and service life.
The port of Hamburg could supply small towns with energy
The technology is particularly suitable for places where heavy vehicles travel at low speeds. One example is the test area on the harbor area in Hamburg. Other possible locations include intersection areas, highway entrances or toll booths with high freight traffic.
The first system in the port of Hamburg is twelve meters long and is expected to deliver electricity in the kilowatt range. According to the start-up’s estimates, 16 trucks are enough to generate one kilowatt hour (kWh) of energy. Due to the high volume of traffic in the port of Hamburg, the company expects that the first system alone can deliver almost 40,000 kWh of electricity annually.
If all of the more than 200 suitable locations in the port were used, annual electricity production could be ten gigawatt hours. This roughly corresponds to the electricity needs of a small town. Road Energy Production Systems assumes that such a system will pay for itself within ten years at the latest. 40 ports worldwide are said to have already expressed interest in the facilities.
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