Solar energy on rails: new concept
Sun-Ways gets the green light for the first pilot project to install solar modules on tracks. The start-up, founded in 2023, will test the modules on a 100-metre-long track near Buttes station from spring 2025.
Sun-Ways wants to transform railway tracks into solar power plants. The idea is to install solar modules between tracks in such a way that they can be easily removed again, for example for track repairs. The Federal Office of Transport has now given the green light for the first pilot project, according to the start-up from Ecublens, which was founded in 2023.
Sun-Ways will now be able to test its systems on a 100-metre stretch of track near Buttes station from spring 2025. The 48 solar modules will be installed by Scheuchzer, a track builder and manufacturer of track construction systems based in Bussigny VD.
The installation and connection to the grid will be carried out by Viteos, a provider of renewable energies based in Neuchâtel, and DG Rail, a specialist in railroad power supply. The system will be able to generate up to 16,000 kilowatt hours per year over an area of 100 square meters. The partners in the pilot project are bearing the costs of 585,000 Swiss francs.
Thanks to a special development from Scheuchzer, the solar systems from Sun-Ways can be installed both manually and automatically on the track bed between the tracks and easily removed again. The Scheuchzer machine can now lay up to 1000 square meters of solar modules per day. In Switzerland alone, with its 5000 kilometers of track systems, Sun-Ways expects a potential of 1 terawatt hour of electricity per year, enough to supply 300,000 households.
The town of Aigle VD has already approved another plant, which is to be built on private tracks over a length of 1500 kilometers. Sun-Ways is also already in talks with the French state railroads SNCF and with partners in Spain, Romania and South Korea about further pilot projects.