Switzerland to Launch World-First Solar Panels on Railway Tracks for Clean Energy
Switzerland to Launch World-First Solar Panels on Railway Tracks for Clean Energy
📰 In News: Switzerland to Launch World’s First Solar Panels on Railway Tracks (Sun-Ways Project)
Switzerland will launch the world’s first solar panels on active railway tracks in Neuchâtel in 2025, developed by start-up Sun-Ways in collaboration with EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology).
Panels will be removable, allowing quick uninstallation for railway maintenance — solving a major challenge that earlier prevented solar use on rail tracks.
Installed between the rails, trains can pass directly over them without disruption.
Pilot project:
48 panels on a 100-metre track near Buttes station
Expected to generate 16,000 kWh annually, enough to power local homes
Funded at CHF 585,000 (€623,000)
If scaled across Switzerland, could generate 1 Terawatt-hour annually (≈2% of national electricity needs).
Global Potential: Sun-Ways aims to equip 50% of the world’s 1 million km railway lines with this system. Studies ongoing in Spain, Romania, South Korea, and Australia.
Challenges raised: durability, fire risk, reflection distraction, snow/ice. Sun-Ways addressed these by using reinforced, anti-reflective panels and developing snow-melting systems.
The power will be fed into the local grid, not the railway traction system, due to current operational complexities.
If successful, the project could transform global renewable energy generation by utilizing existing infrastructure without extra land use.
