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Solar rail could become common in Europe after successful trial in Switzerland

euronews.com

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Re: Solar rail could become common in Europe after successful trial in Switzerland

#121

Post by ryanmcbride »

xnx wrote: post #113
tmtvl wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Solar panels laid flat on the ground are less efficient than solar panels raised above ground and angled to get more yield (if you're in the Northern hemisphere the Sun is never* in the North, vice versa for the South). * Midnight sun notwithstanding.

Definitely, the tradeoff is that it is cheap/easy to install things on the ground. https://erthos.com/ is testing that.

yes but things on the ground are exposed to significantly more dirt and critters than things suspended off the ground.

Re: Solar rail could become common in Europe after successful trial in Switzerland

#122

Post by ryanmcbride »

dukeyukey wrote: post #112
ryanmcbride wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know there's profit in solar, but the game is rigged to favor oil and gas so that's still more profitable for the people who make the decisions.

This is bizarre to me, because the energy markets in my country (the UK) are bent to benefit solar and wind over all else. We banned oil and gas exploration, and even regulated out coal from the entire market. It's extremely hard to see how this benefits fossil fuel companies.

must be nice

Re: Solar rail could become common in Europe after successful trial in Switzerland

#123

Post by [deleted] »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #108
ryanmcbride wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll never understand why people latch onto these kinds of solar "solutions" in search of problems. Like that solar roadways fiasco a decade or so ago. Just normal-ass solar is already safe proven and effective. Why do we need to remix it when there are still so many easy wins to be achieved?

> safe proven More like engineered and worked around to be safe (unless you are in Australia lol). 400v around people is unforgiving. Batteries catch fire occasionally too - a lot of places you are not allowed to install indoors.

[deleted]

Re: Solar rail could become common in Europe after successful trial in Switzerland

#124

Post by anon7000 »

dvh wrote: post #31

Solar cell is the only practically viable power source with no moving parts. Stop trying to attach it to moving things. Movements breaks things. Just put the panels by the rail, e.g. as vertical sound barriers in reasonable distance (to lower the pressure waves from train) from tracks. Or on a nearby field where it can be protected and inspected all at one place.

> Stop trying to attach it to moving things. Movements breaks things. Just put the panels by the rail

Literally, they are not being attached to a moving thing and are being put by the rail lol. Just in between the tracks.

Like you say, PV cells don’t have moving parts and don’t need much maintenance. So mass produced cells you can slap anywhere are really not a bad idea.

Re: Solar rail could become common in Europe after successful trial in Switzerland

#125

Post by audunw »

SoftTalker wrote: post #35
dvh wrote: post #31

Solar cell is the only practically viable power source with no moving parts. Stop trying to attach it to moving things. Movements breaks things. Just put the panels by the rail, e.g. as vertical sound barriers in reasonable distance (to lower the pressure waves from train) from tracks. Or on a nearby field where it can be protected and inspected all at one place.

It does seem kind of silly to put the panels between the rails, more prone to damage there from stuff falling off the trains, derailments, etc. and not angled for optimal sun exposure though I guess it's easy open space. Before I read the article I was thinking the electricity from the panels would power the trains but doesn't sound like the output is enough.

How often do stuff fall of the rails, and how common is derailment? In case of derailment you’ve got much bigger problems than some broken solar panels.

Re: Solar rail could become common in Europe after successful trial in Switzerland

#126

Post by marysol5 »

dvh wrote: post #31

Solar cell is the only practically viable power source with no moving parts. Stop trying to attach it to moving things. Movements breaks things. Just put the panels by the rail, e.g. as vertical sound barriers in reasonable distance (to lower the pressure waves from train) from tracks. Or on a nearby field where it can be protected and inspected all at one place.

>rolling out 100 metres of photovoltaic (PV) panels in between active tracks in Buttes

RTFA

Re: Solar rail could become common in Europe after successful trial in Switzerland

#127

Post by marysol5 »

dukeyukey wrote: post #65
ryanmcbride wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll never understand why people latch onto these kinds of solar "solutions" in search of problems. Like that solar roadways fiasco a decade or so ago. Just normal-ass solar is already safe proven and effective. Why do we need to remix it when there are still so many easy wins to be achieved?

People hate the idea of solar in currently-unused space. Even if that space is bare desert. So you can get a big PR boost if you propose "solar, but on a thing" (roadways, water, and now trains).

There's a load of land near me that's just used entirely for some horses to chill in.

Planning permission was put in to add a solar farm. Got "objections" because it's "farm land".

It's not viable to grow anything on...

Re: Solar rail could become common in Europe after successful trial in Switzerland

#128

Post by marysol5 »

ipdashc wrote: post #117
ryanmcbride wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is just odd to me because why are we holding one of the cleanest means of generating electricity to a higher standard than like, coal and oil? Why does solar have to have 0 footprint when everything else gets as much of a footprint as it wants? (I know the answer is profit)

I'm a big fan of solar but this seems like a stretch. Generating the same amount of power as one fossil fuel plant requires a vast amount of land area, so of course that's why people complain about it. Coal plants and mines can be pretty large but natural gas plants, the realistic alternative, are pretty compact. I'm not sure how the size of oil/gas fields compares to a similar amount of solar, but they are generally…

>Generating the same amount of power as one fossil fuel plant requires a vast amount of land are

Lets not forget that it's not just the land the power plant sits on that is used by fossil fuels.

VAST areas are mined and drilled out

Re: Solar rail could become common in Europe after successful trial in Switzerland

#129

Post by marysol5 »

SoftTalker wrote: post #35
dvh wrote: post #31

Solar cell is the only practically viable power source with no moving parts. Stop trying to attach it to moving things. Movements breaks things. Just put the panels by the rail, e.g. as vertical sound barriers in reasonable distance (to lower the pressure waves from train) from tracks. Or on a nearby field where it can be protected and inspected all at one place.

It does seem kind of silly to put the panels between the rails, more prone to damage there from stuff falling off the trains, derailments, etc. and not angled for optimal sun exposure though I guess it's easy open space. Before I read the article I was thinking the electricity from the panels would power the trains but doesn't sound like the output is enough.

>more prone to damage there from stuff falling off the trains, derailments, etc

How often is a train derailed? And even then everything has to be replaced anyway...

Same goes for "stuff falling off", you can easily replace the panel(s)

Re: Solar rail could become common in Europe after successful trial in Switzerland

#130

Post by marysol5 »

beAbU wrote: post #73
dvh wrote: post #31

Solar cell is the only practically viable power source with no moving parts. Stop trying to attach it to moving things. Movements breaks things. Just put the panels by the rail, e.g. as vertical sound barriers in reasonable distance (to lower the pressure waves from train) from tracks. Or on a nearby field where it can be protected and inspected all at one place.

Did you read the article?

Of course he didn't, he partially described exactly what they're doing
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