The startup Sun-Ways has installed removable solar panels between railway rails, turning part of the Swiss rail network into a mini solar power plant in the village of Buttes. The pilot site features 100 metres of solar panels fitted between the tracks that can produce about 16,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year (enough to power up to six Swiss homes).
The system features a clever way to use space that already exists while avoiding the need to clear land or disrupt nature. While on a train ride in 2020, Sun-Ways founder Joseph Scunderi came up with the idea to use the space between train tracks to generate solar energy. Five years later and the idea is now a working prototype thanks to the help of Swiss innovation partners and the national transport agency.
The panels are removable so railway workers can still easily access the tracks when needed for repairs and maintenance. Additionally, it has a specially built machine that installs and removes the panels quickly, and a brush attached to the end trains can help the panels remain clean them during standard operations.
The company estimates that this technology could generate up to one billion kilowatt-hours annually if rolled out across Switzerland’s 5,320 kilometres of railways, which is enough to power around 300,000 homes or around two per cent of the country’s total electricity use.
The project is currently under a three-year testing phase as Swiss authorities are monitoring how the system performs through different seasons and weather conditions. But early signs are promising and other countries like South Korea, Spain and Indonesia are already showing interest.
“In the long term, our ambition is to produce energy between the rails and re-inject it into the traction current of the trains so that it is practically 100 per cent self-propelled,” Joseph Scuderi told SwissInfo.
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