The Nationwide Railway Operator of France – SNCF, has introduced a take a look at undertaking to put sun panels on its railway rails. The six -month pilot scheme, known as Solveig Mission, began in mid -January 2025 in a municipality at the southern coast of the Seine, about 24 kilometers from Paris.
The device is determined by movable packing containers, sun and rechargeable set up evolved via SNCF’s subsidiary. The corporate’s innovation director, Alistair Lenchner, defined that along with growing packing containers for photovoltaic (PV) panels, AREP additionally up to date the process for putting in them (and uninstallation, if essential).
Logistics features a telescopic arm, which places panels in position, secures them and forestalls injury from meteorological components corresponding to wind, whilst optimizing solar publicity. Some other key merit is that since they’re a brief and reversible set up, the modular panels do not have initial basis or building paintings.
The objective is 1000 MWP photovoltaic capability via 2030
About 80% of SNCF trains are shifting with electrical energy and the brand new infrastructure is lately designed as an inner supply of power for the corporate. With just about 113 800 hectares of SNCF land to be had for photovoltaic installations, if the take a look at proves the efficiency and reliability of the panels, the Solveig prototype will make the most important contribution to the objective of the railway operator to put in 1000 MWP photovoltaic capability via 2030.
Talking to PV Mag, Lenchner emphasizes the possibility of export panels in Europe and outdoor, due to a standardized design that may be made to suit into a collection of various technical specs.
Sun panels in abnormal puts
The Solveig undertaking isn’t the primary of this kind to make use of rail infrastructure and land as a spot to place sun panels. The fall of 2024 The Swiss Federal Delivery Carrier (FOT) gave inexperienced gentle for answers for detachable solar power in its railways. A 100-meter segment of the Nicertel line is ready for the take a look at, which will have to start in 2025.
The inventive concepts for the position of sun panels are various.
The Nationwide Soccer Stadium of Norway gained the sector’s first renewable power facility in Would possibly 2024 within the type of the biggest solar power device on the earth with a vertical roof panel created via Over Simple. The vertical set up permits the manufacturing of electrical energy with 20-30% greater than customary panels, the corporate says. This is a two -person set up, which takes good thing about the morning and night peaks of energy throughout the day. The positioning of the panels in the sort of snowy Eu capital additionally signifies that they’re completely ready to make the most of a phenomenon referred to as Albedo – the ratio of sunshine mirrored via a floor to the sunshine falling on it.
In the meantime, in November 2024, the Chinese language introduced a large offshore solar energy plant within the province of Shandong. The 1 gigawat facility was once regarded as the primary on the planet and the biggest of its sort, occupying a space of roughly 1223 hectares.
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