The key pointsInnovation starts from TuscanyNumbers and data
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Autostrade per l’Italia continues its commitment to promoting “green” and “tech” solutions for the sustainable development and management of the motorway network. Lighting a service station or making a toll booth work on the motorway thanks to the passage of vehicles: these are just some of the results that will be possible thanks to the Kinetic energy harvesting from vehicles (Kehv) project, the first experiment in the world on the motorway which involves the use of a technological platform capable of transforming the kinetic energy of decelerating vehicles into electrical energy, otherwise dissipated as heat in the brakes.
Innovation starts from Tuscany
This technology was developed by Movyon, the Autostrade per l’Italia Group’s center of excellence for research and innovation and leader in the development and integration of advanced Intelligent Transport Systems and infrastructure monitoring solutions.
The tests started on A1 in the Arno Est service area and will continue in the coming months also with testing on a toll lane. Autostrade per l’Italia’s objective is to create a platform, integrated with the main management and monitoring systems of the motorway infrastructure, which can produce clean energy in addition to the typical photovoltaic energy.
According to initial estimates, thanks to the average daily passage of 9 thousand vehicles, with a single module it will be possible to produce 30 Megawatt hours per year equal to a reduction of 11 tonnes of CO2. A value that corresponds to the annual electricity consumption of a condominium made up of 10 families.
In a motorway barrier like Florence West, for example, electricity consumption is approximately 60 MWh/year. Thanks to the installation of two systems it will therefore be possible to completely eliminate the station’s energy needs. A revolutionary system. A vehicle passing over the module activates an electromechanical generator and the electrical energy is made usable through an electronic converter that allows it to be connected to the grid.