Deutsche Bahn is testing the use of solar panels on railway sleepers
Solar panels on German railways are also installed on station roofs and noise barriers along the tracks
The German concern Deutsche Bahn and the British energy company Bankset are testing the use of photovoltaic systems on railway tracks.
During the tests, solar batteries were installed on the sleepers. This design, according to Bankset’s calculations, can produce up to 0.1 MW of electricity per kilometer. If we consider the entire length of the German railway network of 33,000 km (about 60,000 km of tracks), then the potential volumes of electricity generation in this way could be compared with the capacities of several nuclear power plants.
Deutsche Bahn does not yet have an understanding of whether electricity generation through the use of sleepers with solar cells will be applied in practice. At the same time, the possibilities of using solar technologies in railway systems continue to be studied. In addition to tracks, station roofs or noise protection walls along railway tracks, there are also many other places to install solar panels.
