Workers install Wattway panels to a street.

(COLAS/Joachim Bertrand)

To generate clean energy, France will soon be covering parts of its historic cobblestone roads with solar panels.

The French government is planning to , which has the capacity to provide for up to 8 percent of the country’s population, reports Co.Exist. Construction is to take place over the next five years, using Wattway panels from construction and transport infrastructure maintenance company Colas.

The photo above shows a truck on top of Wattway solar panels adhered to a road.

(COLAS/Joachim Bertrand)

According to the company’s website, the panels, which are a quarter-inch thick and skid-resistant and . Composed of cells placed in super-posed layers, the panels are strong enough to support all types of vehicles, including trucks. Each kilometer of Wattway panels are capable of providing enough clean energy to power 5,000 homes.

“The maximum effect of the program, if successful, could be to furnish about 5 million people with electricity, or about 8 percent of the French population,” said France’s minister of ecology and energy Ségolène Royal.

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Though France has notorious traffic, roads are typically cluttered for only 10 percent of the day, according to Colas. This gives the solar street more than enough time to soak up rays and create energy.

The first tests of the roads will begin in the spring, along a , reports Forbes. This experimental roadway has the capacity to power public street lighting for a town of 5,000.

In addition to being used for powering homes, energy from the panels can also be used for street lamps, traffic lights and even electric cars.

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