What are the economics of this? Cost to install vs other available options? Durability will certainly be an issue I’m sure. Genuinely curious and not because I think it’s a bad idea. I want solar on all underutilized areas, I just prefer low hanging fruit from a cost perspective at the current time.

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LaurensBER 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I imagine that the cost to install is fairly low since train tracks require regular monitoring and maintenance so it's fairly cheap to add the installation and maintenance on top of the existing schedule.

The manufacturer claims that durability should not be an issue. Time will tell.

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tryagainian 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Placing a cover over the area between the tracks makes it much more difficult to inspect the ties (sleepers) and ballast.

	▲	LaurensBER 4 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I'm not an expert but I think the SBB is already pretty good at handling this. I think they already run measuring wagons (Oberbaumesswagen) with grond penetrating reader and ultrasonic measurement and use flow sensors to monitor drainage. I would expect that the solar panels impact the efficiency at least somewhat but apparently not enough to cause real and enough issues for the SBB or perhaps they see ways to improve this in the future.
	▲	inglor_cz an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yes, worsened inspection is a non-trivial problem. Very high quality sleepers (I wouldn't expect any other kind in Switzerland) mitigate this, but copying such approach in other countries could spell trouble.

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datadrivenangel 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Seems likely that safe access for maintenance makes this unappealing economically. Likely easier to have wider rail right of way and then put a panel farm on the side.

	▲	tryagainian 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		With the added benefit of being able to mount the tracks at an angle, and the added disadvantage of occupying area near the tracks that is occasionally used for maintenance equipment. And getting approval to widen the right of way, where it’s even physically possible, and issues around flora suppression.

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tryagainian 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[flagged]

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matwood 2 hours ago | parent [-]

> Everywhere grid scale solar goes, expensive new transmission lines follow.

How is this different than any other power generation install?

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SoftTalker 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Solar (and wind, I guess) is way more spread out? Other power generation happens at a point on a map by comparison.

	▲	Certhas 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		So requires more transmission infrastructure. The difference is that we already have that built out over decades, and now we need a different network in a much shorter timescale. No one should pretend that the energy transition is free. The final system we will arrive at can be ver
	▲	2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
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