Start-up Turns Trains into Batteries on Wheels
This inventive idea could bring clean energy to places off the grid.
The rise of the railroad was one of the most important moments in the history of transportation. On trains, goods, people, and yes, energy in the form of coal, could travel thousands of miles across continents and be deposited somewhere else entirely.
Now, thanks to a Colorado start-up, SunTrain, the very same train lines that once transported coal can now transport clean energy to the places that need it most.
Miles of Tracks
According to Happy Eco News, one of the main issues with America’s energy system is the fact that building new, high-voltage power lines takes a lot of time and a lot of money, and people need energy quickly. And though renewable energy projects have been picking up steam, it is often difficult to get the green energy from the places where it is produced to the places, like cities, where it is needed.
That is where SunTrain comes in. The start-up has discovered a way to transport clean energy in the form of solar or wind-powered batteries along the 140,000 miles of freight train tracks throughout the United States. Essentially, battery rail cars are charged at renewable energy sites, and then are sent to power local grids. A pilot project will carry 344-megawatt hours of renewable electricity from Pueblo, Colorado to downtown Denver.
The advantages are obvious. As Colorado Governor, Jared Polis, said in a press release from the company: “In storing gigawatt-hours of clean energy from solar and wind in battery railcars that are then transported over existing freight rail networks, SunTrain offers a creative alternative to traditional transmission. This provides an immediate, alternative connection between renewable energy generation and load, bypassing the congested transmission system.”
Still at the Pilot Stage
Though they are still only at the pilot project stage, reported the Colorado Sun, SunTrain is looking towards the future and what their battery rail cars could do on an extended network of tracks.
The battery rail cars could provide energy to rural areas that are not connected to the grid, including, but not limited to things like music festivals. They could also provide backup for artificial intelligence data centers which use quite a bit of energy and put stress on existing transmission lines. Finally, they can bring wind and solar energy to urban areas when there is a surge in demand.
There is something fitting and romantic about the fact that the old freight tracks that once carried coal across America may now be used to bring cleaner, healthier, and more environmentally friendly sources of energy to help cities run, computers to compute, and people to gather in joy to celebrate music.
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