Solar panels are mounted on roofs, balconies, shelters or roofs, i.e. wherever there is an undeveloped space, a leaven …
Solar panels are mounted on roofs, balconies, shelters or roofs, i.e. wherever there is an undeveloped space, exposed to sun. Do you know where there is a lot of such space? Between the tracks that can pull for thousands of kilometers. Some European countries are already testing solar panels mounted between railway tracks, and now Switzerland joins them, which wants to produce energy that corresponds to the demand of 300,000 households from the “sunny railway”.
Solar panels on railway sleepers
Solar panels between railway tracks are, contrary to appearances, not such a new “discovery”. Some countries-such as Germany, Italy or France-are testing similar solutions, but it is the Swiss company SUN-WAYS created a disassembled system that can be installed on active railway lines, and more specifically on railway foundations.
The idea appeared five years ago and from ordinary observation about the undeveloped space between the tracks has grown to a project, which will soon open to wide application. The official presentation took place only a few days ago, on April 24-then Joseph Scuderi, the founder of the Sun-Ways startup, admitted that the panels were installed exactly as on the roofs, without special philosophy.
However, their secret lies in the fast disassembly option. The installation mounted in the town of Buttes consists of 48 solar panels, which can be connected to each other manually or with a special machine, capable of mounting almost 1000 square meters of panels in just a few hours.
The company believes that the panels can remain safely during the train journey. The option of simple disassembly was created for maintenance, although engineers also have another idea to keep the devices clean – they suggest installing a cylindrical brush at the bottom of the train.
2% of the total electricity consumption in the country – Poland may be next
The SUN-WAYS startup project is by no means a technological demo, but a real idea for the production of green energy for households. The energy generated by solar panels is sent to a local energy network, which in this particular case will produce up to 16 thousand. kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy a year, but about 5320 kilometers of the Swiss railway network would already translate into a billion kWh of energy, which corresponds to 300 thousand. households, i.e. about 2% of total electricity consumption in the country – excluding track sections that run through tunnels.
This, of course, would require consent to the nationwide assembly of panels, but Switzerland strongly focuses on renewable energy sources and wants to achieve non -emission status by 2035, so such an ambitious plan makes sense. According to estimates, the country must produce seven times more solar energy than today, and thousands of kilometers of panels located between the tracks certainly to make this goal easier.
What about Poland? We are in the top ten European countries with the longest network of railway lines, of over 19,000 km, so in this respect we have much greater potential than Switzerland. Poland also looks better in terms of greater sunlight, but loses on the front of railway track maintenance, approaches to renewable energy sources and a possible desire to spend on such a project – the Swiss budget reaches over 700,000. dollars, which could be difficult to accept on the Vistula.
Stock image from depositphotos
