The Space Between Railroad Tracks is Ideal For Solar Panels
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
A pilot project demonstrates that thousands of acres of viable, low-cost land have been hiding in plain sight all along.
Finding places to deploy new solar panels can be challenging, with productive farmland, open parking lots, and rooftops all offering their own sets of pros and cons. However, railway tracks remove the need for new land development, real estate purchases, or rooftop engineering and reinforcement. It’s simply an enhanced use of space that’s already being used for something else.
Developed by solar startup Sun-Ways, the new, rail-based solar panel systems can be quickly placed on existing standard rails, sending power either back to the grid or to stations, terminals, or even the train itself as it moves along the track itself. And, as the recent pilot project in Switzerland proves, photovoltaic panels don’t interfere with railway traffic.
“We have achieved our objectives, both in terms of railway safety and electricity production,” Joseph Scuderi, founder of the start-up Sun-Ways, told Swissinfo. “More than 11,000 trains have circulated over the solar panels, and the installation has proven to be perfectly stable and safe during their passage.”
Sun-Ways’ patented interlocking panels are installed by a purpose-built machine that can lay down up to 300m (985 ft) of PV panels per hour, or more than 500 panels per day, reports Electrek.
Now it is time for Sun-Ways to prove that its concept is scalable and reasonably affordable, in order for it to be added to the growing list of “dual-use” solar sites, like agrivoltaics - deployed successfully to create the World's First Country Powered 100 Percent by Solar.
The Other Method of Harvesting The Sun's Power: Photovoltaic panels that directly convert sunlight to electricity are what most people think of when they hear the term "solar power," but there is another way.
