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French railway operator tests solar on train tracks
(www.pv-magazine.com)
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this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
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Wouldn't that shake a bunch and shatter the glass and also just why? Like why would you ever do that?
Solar panels don't have to necessarily contain glass, the solar cells can be coated with anything as long as it's transparent, there are in fact flexible solar panels.
My guess is infrastructure, the railway company already owns the land, so there's no upfront land investment.
And maybe they can maybe reuse use of the electric railway infrastructure to wire the panels?
Way too high voltage to be practical.
To generate electricity
And the space right next to the track or a field or a roof or a desert or a parking lot or the ocean or literally anything else doesn't work because?
They don't own it.
It's not like shaking is a very novel complication that we have no technological means to counteract.
No, but it does mean that basically everything built for standard domestic/commercial use is unsuitable and instead you have to use rail/marine/heavy-industrial grade equipment, and maintain it regularly.