A fully solar powered railway line was officially launched on August 23rd in Aldershot, South England.
On the rail side, you will see about 100 solar panels, which will provide a total of 30 kW of electricity, responsible for all the signal indications and lights on the local Wessex line.
This solar railway network plan was initiated two years ago by British Rail Network, Imperial College London and environmental charity. It is now undergoing the first round of testing, so the scale is relatively small, but the ultimate goal is to make the national railway power system It is completely supplied by solar energy and can even make diesel no longer use diesel.
The researchers said that the program can not only reduce the cost of electricity transmission, but also reduce the current consumption caused by grid transmission, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.
Stuart Kistruck, Line Director of British Rail Network, accepts The Guardian said in an interview that it hopes to provide the public with a greener and more friendly railway line through this demonstration project. .
The plan leader, Leo Murray, said that he hopes to promote the plan to the whole country or other countries, especially those with abundant sunshine resources like South America and India. After all, embracing new energy sources may be a better option than using coal to generate electricity.
It is reported that the Indian Railways has now piloted the first hybrid diesel trains equipped with solar panels, which mainly provide power for fans, lights and other systems in the cabin to save the burden on diesel generators.
But the power output of the solar energy depends on the light receiving area, and the electric board on the roof is also affected by the direction of the car, as well as the shadow of trees and buildings.
Therefore, the UK’s approach is to place solar panels on either side of the rail network and then power the trains through dedicated substations and storage facilities instead of directly on the train.
In the future, India plans to build a solar power plant with a capacity of up to 30 GW and use it for the railway system. In the next 10 years, it will build the world’s first 100% green railway network.
Source of the title: Railadvent