The project is part of the turnpike's goal to become energy neutral by 2040, an effort that includes expanded use of solar power and the potential for over-the-road vehicle charging on a section of the Mon-Fayette Expressway.
The turnpike commission last week approved the administration working with Electreon Wireless to install the first three charging pads for the project in Middletown dubbed the "inductive charging showcase." Keith Jack, the turnpike's director of facilities and co-chair of its Sustainability Committee, said the pads will be the first of 20 that will be powered by a solar canopy also scheduled for construction over the summer.
Mr. Jack and Amber Gratkowski, the turnpike's regional facilities manager, said the plan is to test several different types of charging pads that use a variety of underground components and road surfaces such as asphalt and concrete to determine which ones work best. Agency employees and fleet vehicles will use the parking spaces.
"There are a lot of different types of manufacturers and a lot of different types of wireless components," Mr. Jack said. "We want to learn from the testing. This is a walk, not a run."
The parking pads are the first step in the agency's long-range plan to grow with the expansion electric vehicles. Right now, many vehicles would need a special adapter to use the pads, but the hope is that technology will become more common by the time the agency is ready to use them across the system.
Additionally, the turnpike is working with the Impactful Resilient Infrastructure Science and Engineering program at the University of Pittsburgh's Swanson School of Engineering to install a section of the new Mon-Fayette Expressway with the ability to charge vehicles that drive it, and with the University of Utah and the Ohio Department of Transportation on a section of the turnpike on both sides of the state border, although that project is stalled due to funding problems in Ohio.
The pads and solar panels are part of a headquarters project that also includes installation later this year of solar panels on the new roof the building received last summer. The overall cost is about $2.2 million, and the agency expects to make that money back from the electricity produced in about 10 years.
The turnpike already has solar projects at its western regional office in New Stanton and a maintenance facility near Jeannette. Others are under development at maintenance facilities in Big Beaver, Somerset and Bensalem, Bucks County, as well as at the Blue Mountain tunnel.
The turnpike usually uses the electricity produced to power its facilities and sells any extra to the electricity grid. At Jeannette, it has sold nearly $1 million in electricity annually to the grid.
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