This is not an attempt to combine the rail line with solar panels. Previously, such an idea has already been implemented by the Italian company Greenrail and the British Bankset Energy. The main differences from the Swiss experiment are that Sun-Ways panels are standard, while competitors’ ones are slightly smaller in size.

what is known

The stacking process at Sun-Ways is fully automated thanks to a special train consisting of two cars – in one the panels will be stored and in the other the panels will be stacked. If necessary, the same train also dismantles the boards.

Its panels will lay a special train / Photo by Sun-Ways

Installation of 60 panels in the 46.2-meter section is planned to be completed in the summer. The project budget is $560,000.

All of the electricity initially produced will be consumed by local households, and some of it will be diverted to electric trains in the future.

According to Baptiste Danichert, co-founder of Sun-Ways, the experiment will open if successful. The possibility of covering the entire 5,000 kilometer Swiss railway network with panels, which will make it possible to produce up to 1 gigawatt of energy per year. This capacity will be enough to meet the energy needs of 750,000 households.

Environmentally clean solar energy is today recognized as one of the main alternatives to fossil fuels that generate greenhouse gas emissions. But many people don’t want to have large solar power plants in their backyards because of their size and visual impact on the landscape. Some companies, including Tesla, offer to cover the roofs of houses with panels. At the same time, floating solar power plants are also gaining more and more popularity. California, for example, is closing some of its canals with solar panels, and South Korea, France, Kenya and other countries are installing solar panels on poles and growing vegetables underneath them.