Drainage rail photovoltaic panels

Can solar panels be placed between railway tracks?

Swiss startup Sun-Ways has developed a patented solution under which it directly rolls out solar modules between railway tracks like a carpet. The panels can be removed at any time for maintenance work. From pv magazine Germany Swiss startup Sun-Ways is currently developing PV systems that can be placed between railroad tracks.

Can a PV system be placed between railroad tracks?

From pv magazine Germany Swiss startup Sun-Ways is currently developing PV systems that can be placed between railroad tracks. It is working on a project that is scheduled to go online in May 2023. It consists of a mechanically detachable PV plant that will occupy a track section owned by Swiss railway operator Transports Publics Neuchâtelois SA.

Could solar panels be installed on the Swiss rail network?

Theoretically, solar panels could be installed on all 5,317 kilometres of the Swiss rail network for a total area corresponding to about 760 football fields, excluding areas in tunnels or ones exposed to little sunshine.

Which companies are testing a photovoltaic system on railway sleepers?

Two other companies, Italy's Greenrail and England's Bankset Energy, are testing photovoltaic elements installed on railway sleepers. However, Sun-Ways is the first to have patented a removable system, in collaboration with EPFL, the Swiss federal technology institute in Lausanne. "That is the innovation," says Danichert.

Will there be a solar-powered railway line in the UK?

That is not to say, however, that efforts have not been made in this direction. Years of collaboration between 10:10, the UK’s Community Energy South and Network Rail have recently brought to life the world’s first solar-powered railway line, which opened in Hampshire, UK in August 2019.

Can a railway network run on solar power?

And even in cases where a whole country has been considered – like, for example, in the Riding Sunbeams project – research seems to suggest that only parts of railway networks could eventually run on solar power, mainly depending on funds and participation form the industry.