Are tollways ground zero for the next wave of renewable energy? 

Jonathon, you’ve worked with dozens of tollways across the United States to assess and improve their operations. In your experience, how ready do you think U.S.-based tollways are to embrace renewable energy to help achieve their carbon reduction goals? 

I can't speak for every toll operator in the United States, but my guess would be that whether they're doing it themselves or leasing it out to others, tollways are very likely to consider the potential of generating revenue through renewables on their property and right-of-way. 

There are substantial grants to offset the cost of solar instal­la­tion, but the tricky part is if that toll authority is willing and able to make use of federal funds. A lot of them view themselves as revenue-generating enterprises and feel they shouldn't be using federal funds that would otherwise go to state or local agencies. However, it's absolutely possible and a substantial offset. We could go out and do this today if the political will and supply chain were there. Creating their own grid with solar and battery backup achieves carbon footprint reduction, cost savings, and resiliency all in the same go. So, it's really a win-win for everybody. 

For tollways that are thinking about exploring what you just described, how do you suggest they get started?  

Every tollway has levels of emissions they can control and ones they can’t control. Let's first talk about what they can control. The first and possibly easiest action to take would be to replace a tollway’s fleet with electric vehicles when those vehicles come up for retirement. I'm not suggesting that they go out and replace their entire fleet on day one, but those vehicles age out pretty regularly. And as they do, replace them with electric vehicles and you are cutting your emissions substan­tially.  

The next option—and one I’m partic­u­larly passionate about— is trying to offset some of those emissions with solar instal­la­tions.  

Let’s dig into that. Tollways commonly have a great deal of unused land they could use for renewable energy generation. Has that land tradi­tion­ally been seen as an asset?  

Not tradi­tion­ally. For the most part, I would say it's a liability. You have to maintain it, you have to mow it, you may even have to plant landscaping there and make it aesthet­i­cally pleasing.  

And as we know, one of the biggest objections to solar farms is that you're taking usable land and converting it into solar fields. That's a legitimate concern. But here, we're talking about land that absolutely cannot be used for very much else. 

Got it. And how can tollways balance the need to boost capacity while simul­ta­ne­ously minimizing their carbon footprint? 

We have to remember that we're talking about an entity that exists to move hundreds of thousands of cars! That in and of itself is anti­thet­i­cal to reducing one's carbon footprint.  

But there have been substantial advance­ments in construc­tion methods that place less strain on the environment. Green materials, green concrete, recycled asphalt… these things all have their place. You can run your construc­tion equipment on compressed natural gas, and presumably, battery at some point in the future. Ultimately, though, you're building a very large road to carry a lot of cars which can’t be offset with just the use of green materials. It's going to be more a matter of remedial measures. 

The best thing you can do is to use that excess right-of-way to generate green power that goes back into the grid. It doesn't matter where you generate that green energy—on-site, sending it back into the grid, putting it into battery storage—you're generating green energy and that's ultimately what matters.  

Do you think that in the next few years, tollways will look into elec­tri­fy­ing their fleets, building solar infra­struc­ture along their roadways, and more? 

Without a doubt. Some operators and some vehicles are well-suited for elec­tri­fi­ca­tion. Pool vehicles in urban areas, for instance, typically make short, infrequent trips. They are stationed at operator-owned maintenance yards, garages, and facilities where EV charging equipment can be easily installed. They're very well-suited to being replaced with EVs, which, as research suggests, come at a lower operating cost than internal combustion engines. Other vehicles, like those in rural areas where the distance between operator facilities is greater, may be less suited. It’s important to evaluate fleet usage and needs and plan accordingly. But in many cases, yes, I definitely think we'll see toll facilities and toll operators integrating EVs into their fleets.

Whether we see on-site power generation is really up to the operating authority. These state operators, quasi-govern­men­tal operators, private operators … do they see a benefit in it? Is it something that they want to pursue? I think there's an excellent business case to do so. Obviously there's an excellent resiliency and envi­ron­men­tal reason to do so. But only time will tell.

We have seen a fair amount of solar being deployed in the right-of-way. Currently, it’s not generating enough renewable energy to make a large impact, but people are exploring it and, in some cases, deploying it as part of their operational systems. My prediction is this “exploratory phase” will continue to gain momentum as more states start feeling the pressure of being left behind. 

How bullish are you on the potential for tollways to use renewable energy to try to offset some of the existing operational costs around all the facilities that they operate? 

I think it's immediately possible. 

We've looked at offsetting some of our clients’ carbon emissions and it doesn't really take that much to do it. It's one of those things that we could go out and do today if the political will were there and if the supply chain were there. So I'm pretty bullish on it. It's really just a matter of these authorities and agencies deciding that that's what they want to do.