What percentage of the systems overall power consumption is supplied by solar on a good day?
How many good days do they get a year?
What is the expected annual output based on local weather?
How does that output compare to their annual usage?
Are tens of millions being spent for a low percentage of overall consumption?
A high speed rail line between Paris and Amsterdam now runs partially on the sun. Trains gliding along the E19 highway in Belgium at about 180 miles per hour are drawing power from 2.1 miles of solar panels.
Atop a train tunnel, Enfinity’s photovoltaic panels cover more than 500,000 square feet. The tunnel runs through the ancient Peerds Forest with the original purpose of preventing trees from falling on the tracks. As of yesterday, it took on another job. The tunnel’s 3.3-megawatt solar roof now generates electricity for the railway’s trains, signals and lights and helps heat stations, such as the nearby Antwerp Central Station.
Trains with solar roofs appeared in Italy in 2005, but these panels only kept the carriage’s air conditioners running. Belgium’s $22.6 million (15.6 million euros) installation can reportedly power the equivalent of 4,000 train trips on Infrabel’s HSL4 line and cut the railway’s carbon dioxide input by 2,400 tons annually.
Bart Van Renterghem of Enfinity’s UK branch tells The Guardian:
For train operators, it is the perfect way to cut their carbon footprints because you can use spaces that have no other economic value and the projects can be delivered within a year because they don’t attract the protests that wind power does.
Even so, wind power is also on the agenda for Belgium’s high speed rail network. Southeast of Brussels, Infrabel is planning a 2.5-megawatt wind farm along Highway E40. The 20 turbines will help power the railway between Leuven and Liège.
On the other side of the North Sea, however, some of Enfinity’s other solar-rail endeavors are on standby. According to Van Renterghem, the UK government’s proposal in March to cut renewable energy subsidies has hamstrung many efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
One project that is still speeding along is London’s new Blackfriar’s station. With 4,400 solar panels stretching across the Thames, the 1-megawatt project will provide half the station’s electricity needs. The $11.9 million solar installation, the Guardian reports, will be the biggest in Britain when it opens next year.
For a bird’s-eye view of the Antwerp-Amsterdam tunnel and an intense dose of electronic music, see below:
Related on SmartPlanet:
- Italy’s road of solar power
- Philadelphia subway brakes for energy savings
- It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a superbus!
Image: Flickr/Asia Veroli and Network Rail
