The French railroad company SNCF wants to use permanently or temporarily disused tracks to generate solar power. Since mid-January, the company has therefore been installing solar modules on the tracks of the train maintenance center in Achères in the Yvelines department. The system, called “Solveig”, was developed by the innovation company AREP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SNCF Gares & Connexions. ISO standard containers are used to transport the modules, which are brought to the desired installation site by wagon. There, the pre-installed module packages are placed on the rails and secured. According to SNCF, no further construction work or additional foundations are required. Dismantling should be just as easy if the tracks are needed again.
The prototype will now be tested for six months. The solar power will initially be used locally by the SNCF and temporarily stored in batteries. If the system proves successful, the SNCF has already created a new name for this type of solar power generation: “Ferrovoltaïque” – from the French words for railroad (“chemins de fer”) and for photovoltaics.
© PHOTON
