Comments on: 2 Miles of Solar Panels Now Cover High-Speed Rail Tunnel on Amsterdam-Paris Line {VIDEO}

By: Private Sector Players Stepping Up Pace of Clean Energy Investments | CleanTechnica

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:21:09 +0000

[…] particularly interesting project that came on-line in 2011 was the first-of-its-kind “Solar Tunnel” project, where 16,000 solar panels were installed atop the roof of a high-speed rail tunnel […]

By: Jeremy R

Jeremy R — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:32:00 +0000

If it was built to stop noise they might have covered the wrong thing since the highway makes noise all the time based on the traffic in the video.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 10:10:00 +0000

Hmm, r u sure of that?

The info I originally read was about the trees/ancient forest.

By: Milieunet

Milieunet — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 02:25:00 +0000

This tunnel isn’t built to protect the train from falling trees, but to protect people living close to the tunnel from all noise.

By: Nissan Leaf Disses Chevy Volt in New Commercial {VIDEO} – CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 06:34:09 +0000

[…] 2 Miles of Solar Panels Now Cover High-Speed Rail Tunnel on Amsterdam-Paris Line {VIDEO} […]

By: Rif Wiki

Rif Wiki — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:08:00 +0000

The article from Guardian is very light on the technical details. Searching around I found this:

The installation is 3.4 km long, 16000 PV panels, 245Wp per panel. The tunnel roof is a total of 50000 m2 (*1). Total investment € 14.5 million. Expected to deliver 3300MWh per year.

News release in Dutch (French version not available):
http://www.enfinity.be/NL/nieuws/werken_van_start_aan_de_zonnestroominstallatie_op_tunnel_hsl4.html

(*1) The roof size appear bigger than what can be covered with 16000 panels (of 245Wp), so I am not sure every m2 of roof is covered. Rows of panels likely spaced apart due to 35 degree optimal angle towards the sun.

By: Susan Kraemer

Susan Kraemer — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:23:00 +0000

Plus it is more than likely that these old trees are only in one region that the train passes through, and not lining the entire route! Great idea, love how it bypasses the inevitable NIMBYism

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:21:00 +0000

Kick your game up a notch. Cynicism is, like, level three of brightness.

Asking a good question along the lines of “Is this a problem and is there a solution?” is 3.5.

Purposing a solution is 5.0.

;o)

By: thatguy

thatguy — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:09:00 +0000

I agree that micro inverter would greaterly reduce this issue, i guess it is the cynic in me to always look at the bad and not the good. I realy hope they have use the solar vu or something simular so the information on the array can be shared.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 09:14:00 +0000

Haven’t read that, but that sounds cool!

By: Science & Technology

Science & Technology — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 08:46:00 +0000

In a Spanish media I have read that the infraestructure has been renamed as “The Tunnel of Sun” or “Sun Tunnel”. Is it true? Thanks!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:07:00 +0000

They’re protecting against blow-over, blow-on from the trees. No shade issue except for very early/late in the day when panels aren’t getting much solar input due to the angle of the sun.

In storms large limbs can travel quite some distance and running over one at speed could cause someone to spill tea into their saucer or something else bad….

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 21:24:00 +0000

aside from what Bob said, it doesn’t look (from the video) that they are getting shade — perhaps the concern with the trees was related to big, unlikely (but possible) storms or something.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 21:23:00 +0000

yeah, nice to have the panels RIGHT next to where you need them. & wonder about the second thing as well

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:36:00 +0000

Newtech involves installing micro-inverters on each panel. That means that if a panel is shaded it does not pull down the performance of other panels. That shaded panel just contributes less power to the overall system than it would were it receiving full sun.

Shade is not the problem it used to be for solar.

By: thatguy

thatguy — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 19:43:00 +0000

Love it, except it seems to be a little odd that they would install this to protect against trees, if the tree are close enough to fall on the train then they are close enough to shade the panels> iam sure they did a shade analysis but it is hard to beiev most of the panel wont be remdered useless for a larg portion of the day, does any know if they have a public monitoring site?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:43:00 +0000

I’m assuming that they can pump any power produced right into the rails. Zero transmission costs. (Well, a few feet of wire.)

Wonder what the $/kWh number is? 16,000 panels would earn you a price break….