Solar Panels to Be Put on Rail Tracks – But Will They Work?

A Swiss start-up is trialling a new way of harnessing the power of the sun – solar panels on railway tracks.

The removable PV system will be tested on a track in the western canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, for three years from spring 2025.

The PV panels, which will be rolled out like carpet in between the tracks, will be removable.

500,000 miles of solar tracks?

While the initial project is relatively small, Sun-Ways sees the idea as one to roll out across the globe.

"There are over a million kilometres of railway lines in the world," Sun-Ways co-founder Baptiste Danichert said last year. “We believe that 50 per cent of the world's railways could be equipped with our system.”

It is the latest innovative approach to solar panel installation, with developers looking at other unusual surfaces in recent years – including roadsides, reservoirs and farms.

At the same time, other companies are experimenting with adding PV elements to railway sleepers.

Sun-Ways, with the help of EPFL, the Swiss federal technology institute in Lausanne, is the first to patent a removable system.

“This will be the first time that solar panels will be installed on a railway track with trains that pass over them,” Sun-Ways CEO Joseph Scuderi said.

The removable innovation is a crucial one since railway tracks need to be cleared from time to time for essential maintenance work.

How will it work?

A mechanical system will be used to install the removable solar panels.

A train developed by Swiss track maintenance company Scheuchzer will travel along the rails, laying photovoltaic panels as it goes.

The train uses a piston mechanism to unfurl the one-metre-wide panels, pre-assembled at a Swiss factory, at a forecast up to 1,000sq m per day.

During the three-year test phase, 48 panels will be added to a 100-metre section of track operated by transN, the canton’s public transport company, at a cost of roughly €623,000.

Any electricity generated will be fed into the power grid and used to power homes, as feeding it into railway operations would be a more complicated process.

Why the brakes may be applied

The road to getting permission for the pilot project has been long, with the threat of further delays ahead.

The Federal Office of Transport rejected the request last year as a precautionary measure, but after 10 months of building and testing prototypes, Sun-Ways secured a permit to begin applying the tech.

The International Union of Railways has expressed concern that the panels could suffer micro-cracks, increase the risk of fires and distract train drivers with reflections.

Sun-Ways said its panels are more resistant than conventional ones and could have an anti-reflection filter to keep out of train drivers’ eyes.

It said built-in sensors will ensure they work properly while brushes attached to the end of trains could remove dirt from the surface of the panels.

Looking on the bright side

Sun-Ways said panels could be rolled out across Switzerland’s 5,317km railway network. The photovoltaic cells would cover an area around the size of 760 football fields.

It estimates this could produce one Terawatt-hour (TWh) of solar energy per year, equivalent to around 2% of Switzerland’s total energy consumption.

Beyond Switzerland, the company is involved in potential projects in Spain, Romania and South Korea.

Lubomila Jordanova, CEO & Founder Plan A and Co-Founder Greentech Alliance, writing on LinkedIn, said: “This system uses the vast network of underutilised railway tracks for solar energy generation, creating a highly scalable, efficient, and environmentally friendly way to produce clean power.

“A key advantage of this innovation is that it capitalises on existing infrastructure, eliminating the need for acquiring additional land for solar farms.

“Europe alone has over 200,000km of railway tracks, representing a significant opportunity for energy production.”

She added: “If just 10% of these tracks were equipped with solar panels, it could generate enough electricity to power approximately 300,000 homes annually.

“Using existing railway tracks minimises the environmental impact compared to building new solar farms on undeveloped land. This aligns with growing global priorities for reducing the environmental footprint of energy projects and meeting carbon reduction targets.”

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