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 [Energy & Infrastructure](/categories/energy-infrastructure)

 # Solar Highways for the 21st Century

 

##### By Max Maxfield

 

 

 Jun 29, 2018 10:30 AM ET

  Campaign:  [The Ray](/news/campaign/ray)  ![](https://3blcdn.com/styles/carousel_2x/s3/2026-08/TheRay_Day_withtag_1786855012_6.png)

 

[This article was first published on EEWeb](https://www.eeweb.com/profile/max-maxfield/articles/solar-highways-for-the-21st-century)

Do you recall my column [Solar highway provides a guiding light to the future](https://www.eeweb.com/profile/max-maxfield/articles/solar-highway-provides-a-guiding-light-to-the-future)? This column was about [The Ray](http://theray.org/), which is an 18-mile stretch of Interstate 85 in Georgia (the part just as you are entering Georgia from Alabama) that serves as a testing ground for innovative and eco-friendly technologies. As I said in that column:

> The public, private, philanthropic, partnership between The Ray, The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD), and Private Industry has resulted in this first-of-its-kind project in the United States.  
>   
> The idea behind The Ray is to employ state-owned facilities to provide a "living laboratory" that can be used to prove the business model for developing and testing innovative new technologies in the areas of renewable energy, highway safety, and sustainability.

Well, I just heard that The Ray and the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, Austin, are going to partner to create ground-breaking research in solar energy. Through this research, the Energy Institute will analyze United States interstate shoulder, known as rights-of-way, mile-by-mile, for solar energy generation potential.

**[Read the full article on EEWeb](https://www.eeweb.com/profile/max-maxfield/articles/solar-highways-for-the-21st-century)**



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 [![](/sites/default/files/Clients/Screen_Shot_2014-11-05_at_3.00.07_PM.png)](/profiles/ray-c-anderson-foundation)

 

 

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