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You know you kind of described how trains work? :) I just did a quick calculation for Poland - we have 11k km electrified train tracks, with ~1.5m of space bet

You know you kind of described how trains work? :) I just did a quick calculation for Poland - we have 11k km electrified train tracks, with ~1.5m of space between the rails. If I calculated correctly, putting solar panels there would give us ~8-15tWh energy per year, which is 5-10% of the required electricity production for the nation. I've never been a fan of the idea of solar roads, but solar railways might actually make sense...

reaperducer 7y ago
I don't know how they do it in Poland, but in some countries when you flush a toilet on a passenger train going above a certain speed, the nasty stuff just evacuates to the space between the tracks.
- _Nat_ 7y ago
  Seems like any sort of solar panel on the ground is going to be prone to get nasty stuff on it. I guess they might just have them at an angle, then trust the rain provide some light cleaning, while a street/rail-cleaner could go by for more thorough cleanings periodically? I mean, I dunno what exactly their strategy is, but I'm assuming that they're not counting on a road to not get dirty. Cars leave rubber from their tires, drip oil, drop trash, etc..
- RadioHacker 7y ago
  There's an old folksong: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/oscar-brand-humoresque-passengers-will-please-refrain-lyrics.html https://lyricstranslate.com/en/oscar-brand-humoresque-passen...
dredmorbius 7y ago
Mechanical equipment, and freight, tends to fall onto tracks. Axels need lubrication, there are hydraulic fluids, potentially septic drops, and bulk containers (coal, sand, gravel, metal, scrap, grain) also leak from bins. None of these do much to improve efficiency or lifetime of solar panels. Rail has adjacent easements. These have traditionally been used for complementary technologies, e.g., telegraph and other comms routes (which share a need for continuous rights of way, and provide a utility to the railroads themselves for communications and control services). There are reasons you might want to avoid certain co-sitings (e.g., unarmoured petroleum or natural gas lines adjacent to rail trackage). But solar could well be a reasonable adjunct.

reaperducer 7y ago

I don't know how they do it in Poland, but in some countries when you flush a toilet on a passenger train going above a certain speed, the nasty stuff just evacuates to the space between the tracks.

_Nat_ 7y ago
Seems like any sort of solar panel on the ground is going to be prone to get nasty stuff on it. I guess they might just have them at an angle, then trust the rain provide some light cleaning, while a street/rail-cleaner could go by for more thorough cleanings periodically? I mean, I dunno what exactly their strategy is, but I'm assuming that they're not counting on a road to not get dirty. Cars leave rubber from their tires, drip oil, drop trash, etc..
RadioHacker 7y ago
There's an old folksong: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/oscar-brand-humoresque-passengers-will-please-refrain-lyrics.html https://lyricstranslate.com/en/oscar-brand-humoresque-passen...

dredmorbius 7y ago

Mechanical equipment, and freight, tends to fall onto tracks. Axels need lubrication, there are hydraulic fluids, potentially septic drops, and bulk containers (coal, sand, gravel, metal, scrap, grain) also leak from bins. None of these do much to improve efficiency or lifetime of solar panels. Rail has adjacent easements. These have traditionally been used for complementary technologies, e.g., telegraph and other comms routes (which share a need for continuous rights of way, and provide a utility to the railroads themselves for communications and control services). There are reasons you might want to avoid certain co-sitings (e.g., unarmoured petroleum or natural gas lines adjacent to rail trackage). But solar could well be a reasonable adjunct.