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Last year, word dropped that a Swiss firm had developed a new rapid-fire system for installing solar panels between railroad ties. That’s a clever way to maximize railroad infrastructure for solar power, over and above the more conventional route of installing solar panels on train station rooftops. Two other interesting solutions also emerged last year, so let’s take a look at them.
Leveraging Railway Sound Barriers For Solar Power, Bifacial Edition
New bifacial solar technology is one of the factors opening up new opportunities to harvest solar power from railway infrastructure. While conventional solar panels have to be tilted at an angle for maximum efficiency, bifacial solar panels can harvest sunlight efficiently in a vertical position, saving a considerable amount of space.
One solar innovator to take advantage of the new technology is the Lithuanian startup SoliTek. Last summer the company announced that is collaborating with the construction firm Stalcorp to install bifacial solar panels in tandem with sound barriers along railway lines.
“The first of these innovative projects conducted alongside the Lithuanian public rail infrastructure manager LTG Infra, features the installation of SoliTek’s 370W solar modules within a noise-reducing barrier along the railway in the Vilnius region,” SoliTek explains. Once complete, the solar installation will consist of 60 solar modules extending for a length of 70 meters (about 230 feet). SoliTek expects the array to produce 13.2 megawatt-hours of electricity per year.
SoliTek is also working on a similar solar-plus-sound barrier project of 15 MWh, to be located along a roadway between Kaunas and Vilnius.
“Both projects are strategically designed to maximize solar efficiency while significantly reducing noise pollution,” SoliTek emphasizes.
The Perovskite Solution
New thin film solar technology is providing another means of engineering solar modules for railway sound barriers and other vertical surfaces. Thin film solar cells are not as high-performing as the more familiar silicon solar cells, but they can be applied over a wider variety of surfaces and they are relatively inexpensive (see more thin film solar background here).
The question is durability, and the answer is on its way. Back in 2023, the Japanese firm Sekisui Chemical announced the results of a study indicating that its thin film perovskite solar cells are durable enough to apply to the exterior walls of buildings, even on higher floors with significant wind exposure. So, it’s no surprise to find the firm eyeballing railway sound barriers, too.
On January 5 of this year, the news organization Asahi Shimbun reported that preliminary plans are in the works to install Sekisui’s perovskite technology on south-facing noise barriers along the Tokaido Shinkansen railway line in Japan. Tests are under way to determine if the new solar cells can withstand the vibrations and wind pressure created by passing bullet trains.
If the trials are successful, the sound barriers will double as solar energy generators for station lights and other railway facilities. As noted by Asahi Shimbun, the payoff could be considerable. There are about 650 kilometers’ worth of sound barriers along the line. It runs mainly east-west, providing ample opportunities for south-facing installation.
Maximizing Excess Rail Capacity
With their flat roofs, freight cars themselves would seem to be another opportunity for railway stakeholders to harvest energy. After all, modern freight trains in the US commonly stretch for a mile and more, offering plenty of open, rooftop, sunlit space.
In 2021 a a “Solar Train” demonstration project crossed the CleanTechnica radar, but so far a followup has not materialized. That makes sense, considering the state of modern logistics operations. Many freight cars are simply shells for transporting inter-modal shipping containers, which could easily end up sitting in a stack on a cargo ship instead of harvesting solar energy on the open rails..
The US startup SunTrain has developed a sort of workaround. Instead of putting solar panels on freight cars, SunTrain has developed a battery-in-a-boxcar solution that collects solar energy from one location and transports it to users in another location.
That’s not exactly the same as installing solar panels on railroad infrastructure, but it does provide railroad stakeholders with an opportunity to get more use out of their tracks.
“The idea is to leverage spare railway capacity, some of which has been created by a steep drop in the use of coal for power generation,” CleanTechnica noted last December.
Plans are in the works for a grid-scale demonstration in Colorado, transporting wind energy as well as solar energy.
Another Door Opens For Rural Solar Development
Rolling out a strip of solar panels in between railroad ties is one of those ideas that seems like somebody should have thought of it a long time ago. Hidden within an existing railroad bed, a long strip of solar panels could generate multiple megawatts of clean power without running afoul of opposition based on aesthetic concerns over rural solar development.
“The main criticisms of rural solar development involve appropriate land use and aesthetic issues, but those matters have long been settled for the many railroad rights-of-way criss-crossing the globe,” CleanTechnica noted last October. “Railroads are established, permitted, and permanent elements of modern infrastructure.”
“Aside from freight yards and other busy parts of a rail system, railroads are also empty of traffic for long periods of time, allowing for ample sun exposure,” we added.
There being no such thing as a free lunch, one stumbling block is the fact that laying solar panels flat on the ground is not the most efficient way to collect solar energy. The Swiss firm Sun-Ways has come up with a solution. Its in-ground railway solar panel system requires no racking, and the cost savings will help balance out the reduced efficiency.
Another obstacle is how to keep flat-laid solar panels free of snow, ice, dust, and debris. Sun-Ways anticipates that its system is compatible with existing railway cleaning equipment, helping to reduce the cost of regular sweepings.
Yet another challenge for in-bed solar panels is the looming specter of periodic repairs to railroad beds, which would require the panels to be uninstalled. Sun-Ways has also thought of that. The company’s roll-out system is designed to be rolled back up in case of need.
Apparently Sun-Ways has thought of everything. If they missed something, we’ll find out soon. The company is installing 48 of its solar panels along a 100-meter stretch of railway in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel. Additional pilot projects are also reportedly under consideration elsewhere in Europe, as well as Asia, Australia, and the US.
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Photo (cropped): Innovators are leveraging new technologies to install solar panels on sound barriers and other railroad infrastructure. (courtesy of SoliTek).
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