Finding places to deploy new solar panels is often just as challenging as the construction project itself – with productive farmland, open parking lots, and rooftops all offering their own sets of pros and cons, but a recent pilot project suggests that thousands of acres of viable, low-cost land have been hiding in plain sight all along: the space between railroad tracks.
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. The best part? The PV panels don’t interfere with conventional 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.”
Rapid deployment
Sun-Ways’ patented interlocking panels are installed by a purpose-built machine developed by rail servicing firm Scheuchzer AG, that can lay down up to 300 meters (~985 feet) of PV panels per hour, or more than 500 panels per day. Assuming about 380 W of of power for each approx. 2 m long commercial panel, that’s 190 kW of installed capacity installed per day.
It’s worth noting, too, that that added capacity is being installed invisibly, without the need for new land development, real estate purchases, or rooftop engineering and reinforcement. It’s just a better utilization of space that’s already being used for something.
If the Sun-Ways concept proves to be scalable and (let’s face it) reasonably affordable, it could complement a growing list of “dual-use” solar sites that generate clean electricity without needing to replace farmland (which it doesn’t), clear forests (which it doesn’t), or cover every rooftop (which it doesn’t need to) in order to keep growing. All we’ll have to do then is ask, “Can this infrastructure do two jobs instead of one?”
In the case of rail, the answer seems to be yes. And, with something like 140,000 miles of active freight track in the US, if only 20% of those miles are suitable for Sun-Ways panels, we could be looking at more than 8 GW of installed capacity. (Check that math, tho.) That’s not enough to power Manhattan – but, like, Tulsa? Sure!
And that’s without clearing a single tree, covering a single farm, or whatever other wind and solar crazy straw men the oil companies would have your crazy uncle on Facebook believe.
Top comment by Jilles van Gurp
Solar panels are cheap. So, put them wherever they fit. The real cost is in infrastructure and installation cost. So, I can see the upside here. The infrastructure is there already so you don't need separate mounts or wires or ladders. And installation should be really straightforward and cheap.
It's a harsh environment for panels to be in with vibrations, gravel flying around, etc. But the panels can probably handle that. And so what if one occasionally breaks?
I talked to a guy that installs solar panels in grid scale projects in Germany. They don't worry about panels breaking as the failure rates are extremely low. It's something like a few panels per million that they have to replace. They apparently give spare panels to local farmers to have a few spares on stand by if they ever have to do in the field replacements. Apparently, the farmers just use them to get some free power and nobody really cares.
You can check out Sun-Ways’ official explainer video, below, then let us know what you think of the solar rail concept in the comments.
Sun-Ways solar + rail
SOURCE | IMAGES: Sun-Ways, via SwissInfo.
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