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Title: Solar panels between the rails in Switzerland Post by: Surrey 455 on March 19, 2023, 01:29:39 From Euronews (https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/03/17/solar-panels-could-be-installed-in-the-spaces-between-railway-tracks-in-world-first)
Quote Solar panels are being rolled out “like carpet” on railway tracks in Switzerland. Swiss start-up Sun-Ways is installing panels near Buttes train station in the west of the country in May, pending sign-off from the Federal Office of Transport. As the climate crisis demands that we speed up Europe’s energy transition, developers have been seeing new potential in unusual surfaces. Roadsides, reservoirs and farms are all finding space for solar systems. And Germany’s Deutsche Bahn is also experimenting with adding solar cells to railway sleepers. Continues.... Title: Re: Solar panels between the rails in Switzerland Post by: Electric train on March 19, 2023, 07:15:30 From Euronews (https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/03/17/solar-panels-could-be-installed-in-the-spaces-between-railway-tracks-in-world-first) Quote Solar panels are being rolled out “like carpet” on railway tracks in Switzerland. Swiss start-up Sun-Ways is installing panels near Buttes train station in the west of the country in May, pending sign-off from the Federal Office of Transport. As the climate crisis demands that we speed up Europe’s energy transition, developers have been seeing new potential in unusual surfaces. Roadsides, reservoirs and farms are all finding space for solar systems. And Germany’s Deutsche Bahn is also experimenting with adding solar cells to railway sleepers. Continues.... I doubt Track Maintainenance Engineers will be overly keen on the idea, would make tamping the track a pain Title: Re: Solar panels between the rails in Switzerland Post by: broadgage on March 19, 2023, 07:31:31 I am in general in favour of renewable energy, including solar.
Installation between the rails seem a very odd choice, impedes track maintenance, and liable to shading by vegetation, snow or dead leaves. I would have thought that roofs of station buildings might be a better choice. Title: Re: Solar panels between the rails in Switzerland Post by: stuving on March 19, 2023, 12:30:38 I doubt Track Maintainenance Engineers will be overly keen on the idea, would make tamping the track a pain There's a video here (https://www.sun-ways.ch/) about it, which says these are "removable solar panels". So the same special train that rolls them out and clips them in place can also roll them up again to allow maintenance work. Maybe in Switzerland the obvious corollary, that it's also easy for them to be stolen, is not sen as an issue! This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |