Sun-Ways’ railway track solar panels
Sun-Ways has developed a mechanical system to install railway track solar panels.
Image for illustration purposes.
Switzerland, Buttes: Sun-Ways has developed a mechanical system to install railway track solar panels.
Swiss start-up Sun-Ways has developed a mechanical system to install removable power-generating solar panels along railway tracks. The panels are a meter wide and cover the unused space between the rails. The panels are installed so that the train loaded with panels travels along the track and unrolls the photovoltaics “like a carpet”.
The panels are fully removable when maintenance needs to be carried out. They have no visual or environmental impact.
In collaboration with the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, Sun-Ways started a pilot project testing the panels on a section of rail near Buttes in western Switzerland.
This rail-solar innovation could supply 2 % of Switzerland’s electricity if it is installed in the entire country’s rail network. Sun Ways believes that 50 % of the world’s railways could be equipped with this system.
Source: Sun Ways