Solar panels will be rolled onto Swiss railway tracks ‘like a carpet’
www.euronews.com
After long delays, the removable PV system will finally be tested on a western track next spring.

I’m all for putting solar panels all over the place, but won’t these get dusty and oily and need loads of cleaning after trains pass over?

Also, costing €623,000 over three years sounds rather expensive for just 100m (although that roughly equates to 11KW).

  • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
    11·
    2 months ago

    I like the idea. Free land use. I wonder if the rails can be used as electric conductors. A special train can deploy tons per day, and could clean them regularly in a highly automated way.

    Unlike roadways, they don’t carry any load.

    • Valmond@lemmy.world
      1·
      2 months ago

      This just shows you like the idea but don’t have any formal training in say constructing stuff.

      Are you going to run 1000 volt through the rails? The rails who are bolted to the earth, like grounded? Did you think that one over :-) ?

      I mean we all have thise fun ideas, and that’s actually great, because some are good even if the overwhelming numbers are not. The thing is that all the easy ones has been taken.

      About the train “deploying tons a day”, where did you get that from? Also with hundred of thousands panels lining your train tracks you’ll need to replace broken ones, will you stop regular trains to do that?

      And god forbid one rattles loose and wrecks the underside of a passing train as it gets sucked up by the wind from the moving train lol.

      It’s just not a good idea.