☀️⚡️ Everyone in Switzerland agrees we need more solar. But often, there's disagreement about where to put the panels without impacting the landscapes too much.
🛤️ Looking back, this one is a no-brainer, why not lay them down between train rails: there's already a strong connection to the grid, and it's infrastructure that's already ‘built’.
🇨🇭 First segment of the tracks got inaugurated today in canton Neuchâtel.
https://www.rts.ch/info/regions/neuchatel/2025/article/la-premiere-centrale-solaire-sur-rails-a-ete-inauguree-dans-le-canton-de-neuchatel-28863275.html
Supplier: https://www.sun-ways.ch
C'est un projet inédit en Suisse: la première centrale solaire amovible sur une voie ferrée ouverte au trafic ferroviaire a été inaugurée jeudi à Buttes, dans le canton de Neuchâtel. Des trains voyageurs vont donc circuler par-dessus une installation photovoltaïque.
☀️⚡️ Everyone in Switzerland agrees we need more solar. But often, there's disagreement about where to put the panels without impacting the landscapes too much.
🛤️ Looking back, this one is a no-brainer, why not lay them down between train rails: there's already a strong connection to the grid, and it's infrastructure that's already ‘built’.
🇨🇭 First segment of the tracks got inaugurated today in canton Neuchâtel.
https://www.rts.ch/info/regions/neuchatel/2025/article/la-premiere-centrale-solaire-sur-rails-a-ete-inauguree-dans-le-canton-de-neuchatel-28863275.html
Supplier: https://www.sun-ways.ch
C'est un projet inédit en Suisse: la première centrale solaire amovible sur une voie ferrée ouverte au trafic ferroviaire a été inaugurée jeudi à Buttes, dans le canton de Neuchâtel. Des trains voyageurs vont donc circuler par-dessus une installation photovoltaïque.
@LinuxAndYarn @fj Western states were working on covering aqueducts and irrigation canals with solar panels. These would reduce water loss from evaporation, so a no-brainer in a couple of ways.
I don't know the current status of these projects--given the way Trump is sabotaging offshore wind, I'm worried.
@LinuxAndYarn @dan131riley @fj
aqueducts & parking lots are excellent locations.
@dan131riley @LinuxAndYarn @fj
Actually, there is a very good reason putting them above aqueducts is not a no brainer. The superstructure to support them is very expensive, since they need to be bridged across the span. Next to the aqueduct might make sense. But these areas are not really strapped for space to put solar panels like they are in Switzerland.
Most modern trains have Dragging Equipment Detectors intended to alert the driver when a piece of engineering doesn't fall completely off.
@zl2tod @laprice @nicklockwood @alterelefant @fabrice @fj
I would also be concerned about loose ballast.
@etchedpixels That's mitigated pretty readily with a fabric-covered chain-link fence.
I'd prefer an overhead mounting still. A canopy which extends over the catenary, say.
Avoids direct mechanical damage from the rolling stock, any liberated grit or gravel, fluid leakages, etc. Also difficult for thieves to access. Still proximate to the grid tie-in. And can be several times wider than a betwixt-the-rails arrangement.
@etchedpixels Addressible via standards / engineering codes. Contiguous construction need not equate to contiguous solar, though that's probably the easiest approach.
Panels themselves are pretty cheap. Installation's the expensive bit, and simplifying that reduces net costs.
Though you'd probably not want overhead panels running through bores.
This can't be true. Most large solar farms are installed on the ground.
Or do you mean directly lying on the ground?
Got it. Yup. Needs to be oriented toward the sun. Makes sense.
@fj it's cute but even if you did all of it, 3800 km of standard gauge at 1.4mish wide with an energy density of roughly 100 W/m² gives you about 500 MW of power total, i.e. 10% of current (tiny) Swiss solar capacity.
You could get the same capacity by converting 0.03%(!) of Swiss agricultural land to solar.
@BrKloeckner @ives @bovine3dom @fj
Not at all. You need converters which typically do not convert directly to the high voltages of train power supplies, I think.
@ives I'm not really convinced by roof solar, it's cute and fun, but installing solar on farmland is much cheaper and you can get an added ecological benefit by rewilding the land quite significantly, seeding meadows beneath and around the panels
https://solarenergyuk.org/news/wildlife-found-thriving-on-solar-farms/ (it's from an industry group, so take with a pinch of salt, but look at how gorgeous those meadows are...)
@ives yeah, fair enough, sorry. i could only cover 80% of it in solar panels without a single person having to move. i had underestimated just how dense Belgium is - it is about 20% populated as you said.
I'm not keen on cutting down any forests so let's only cover 50% of Belgium in solar panels
that's 15,000km² which would be about 1,500GW - double the current total world capacity of solar
i really don't understand in what way you "don't have space" :)
It seems to me that livestock grazing is not incompatible with solar panels.
@resuna @nemobis @bovine3dom @ives More solar panels and a little less livestock would be the ideal combination.
The cows do however love the shade the solar panels provide.
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