Retro 2024 – Ségolène Royal’s stupid project turned off

The last photovoltaic road promoted by Ségolène Royal was finally disconnected and dismantled in May 2024.

Inaugurated grandly in 2016 by Ségolène Royal, then Minister of Ecology, the solar roads were supposed to revolutionize renewable energy production in France. Unsurprisingly, these ambitious infrastructures turned out to be costly failures with little profitability.

The flagship project, the Tourouvre-au-Perche solar road, disconnected in 2024, promised to produce enough electricity to supply 5,000 households. In reality, it never approached this goal. The solar panels integrated into the surface, positioned horizontally, suffered from significantly lower efficiency than conventional installations, mainly due to less optimal exposure to sunlight.

But the real problem lay in the cost. With an investment of 5 million euros per kilometer, the cost per kilowatt-hour generated far exceeded that of traditional panels installed on rooftops or in solar parks. A luxury difficult to justify when every euro counts in the energy transition. Technical issues also plagued the project, with premature wear under the weight of vehicles, excessive noise reported by residents, and insufficient grip on rainy days. Additionally, costly maintenance made the model economically unviable.

While France is rich in unused surfaces like rooftops, parking lots, or industrial wastelands, this idea, although appealing on paper, seems to have lacked pragmatism. These alternatives offer much higher yields at a much lower cost. Ultimately, even Colas, the company behind Wattway technology, scaled back its ambitions, and the concept was widely abandoned. Solar roads will remain in memory as a disconnected attempt from technical and economic realities. This failure highlights the importance of rigorous assessment before making large investments in innovations, no matter how alluring they may be.

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