Hauling Renewable Energy Around By Freight Car — Not A Prank!

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Whereas the malevolently incompetent self-puffer who occupies the Oval Workplace retains selling his friends within the fossil vitality enterprise, renewable vitality innovators within the US preserve bringing extra wind and solar energy to extra folks. One notably attention-grabbing growth includes re-purposing the nation’s huge freight rail system to haul wind and photo voltaic vitality across the nation, unclogging grid bottlenecks round the best way.

From Railways To Renewable Power

The railways-to-renewables idea is made attainable by the the state of recent battery expertise. Thanks partly to the electrical automobile development, transportation stakeholders have been pouring billions into new vitality storage R&D for the reason that early 2000’s. Because of this, the batteries of right now are extra highly effective, extra compact, and less expensive than just some years in the past.

Improved battery security is one other essential issue. In previous years, freight haulers might have been reluctant to tackle new enterprise hauling totally charged, massive scale lithium-ion batteries right here and there, as a result of danger of fireside hazards. Poisonous chemical compounds already account for a part of rail freight, and Li-ion batteries would pile on new complications. New battery formulation assist alleviate these issues.

The startup SunTrain surfaced on the pages of CleanTechnica final December with a plan for recharging batteries on freight cars utilizing renewable vitality culled from wind or photo voltaic farms when costs are optimum, and hauling them out to discharge at distant places or different websites the place the demand for electrical energy is excessive however grid capability is insufficient.

This “mobile peaker plant” business model is predicated partly on a 2023 grid study produced by the US Division of Power, which estimated that the nation’s transmission system might want to attain about 115,000 gigawatt-hours by 2040, double its present capability. Assembly all of that additional demand with new transmission capability shall be a tricky row to hoe, contemplating the expense and time concerned in constructing new energy strains, transformers and related infrastructure, together with obstacles positioned by native opponents and lawmakers.

In the meantime, the US already has an present community of freight railways and established rights-of-way stretching by means of inhabitants and industrial facilities, representing 100,000 miles of capability that could possibly be put to make use of hauling renewable vitality as a substitute of fossil vitality.

What About The Locomotives?

Apart from dropping off clear kilowatts alongside their route, freight vehicles charged with wind and photo voltaic vitality might additionally assist the nation’s railway stakeholders swap over to totally electrical locomotives.

The US is virtually one step away from sending complete fleets of electrical locomotives rolling down the tracks. Presently, diesel-electric expertise powers nearly all US freight locomotives. Adopted within the mid-Twentieth century as a labor saving and vitality effectivity enchancment, the diesel-electric mannequin deploys an onboard diesel generator to provide electrical energy to run the locomotives’s energy system.

Pushing diesel gasoline from the equation is tough and costly, however the Pennsylvania-based agency Wabtec is amongst these takingn on the problem of growing battery powered, all-electric locomotives. The first utility is for hybrid trainsets that pair 100% electrical with diesel-electric locomotives for an additional dose of energy when wanted. It’s not an entire resolution however it does lead to a major cut in diesel emissions.

Extra Renewable Power For Extra Folks

One other Pennsylvania agency, the startup Voltifyhas developed a rails-to-renewables various resolution that permits freight haulers to maintain their present fleet of diesel-electric locomotives. As a substitute of counting on diesel as the first gasoline, the  generator hooks as much as batteries within the freight vehicles. The diesel tools stays as a backup system in case of want.

Voltify (to not be confused with a equally named agency that makes a speciality of EV charging) contacted CleanTechnica by e-mail final week to offer extra particulars about their method, which deploys sensible grid expertise and microgrids in an built-in renewable vitality harvesting and supply system.

“Voltify is building a decentralized ‘energy network’ of solar-powered microgrids along freight rail routes to power battery locomotives,” the corporate explains. “These microgrids act like a virtual grid – forecasting demand, pricing power, and distributing energy – while trains serve as mobile energy carriers, delivering power exactly where it’s needed.”

That’s only for starters. Voltify goals to deploy its AI-enabled route optimization software program in different areas as effectively. “While Voltify is starting with rail, the underlying model – predictive, distributed, and mobile – is designed to scale across other industries, and serves as a blueprint for how energy can move with demand, not just wait for it,” Voltify famous.

The Dynamic Charging Distinction

In case you’re questioning how Voltify can preserve locomotives powered up with out draining all of the renewable vitality out of its “VoltCar” freight vehicles, that’s a very good query. The corporate plans to deploy dynamic charging to maintain the VoltCars charged up whereas en route. Recharging additionally takes place at fast-charging methods situated at rail yards whereas the VoltCars are parked.

Street-embedded wireless EV chargers sounded futuristic just some years in the past, however they’re are starting to make the transition from R&D to lively use within the automotive sector. Increase provide chain and manufacturing assist are among the many subsequent steps to be tackled.

Someday within the glowing inexperienced future, railway-based renewable vitality innovators might additionally mix dynamic charging with railroad-embedded solar panels. In the meantime, Voltify is specializing in photo voltaic vitality to energy a community of microgrids, together with stationary fast-charging methods for VoltCars parked at rail yards.

Voltify can be exploring the potential for sodium-ion batteries to keep away from bottlenecks and commodities worth swings that may impression the lithium provide chain. The corporate cites security concerns together with recent improvements in energy density and performancetoo. Strong-state expertise is one other various, although in each circumstances Voltify notes that the state of the expertise has to catch up.

That is all effectively and good, however till Republican members of Congress cease sitting on their fingers and begin exercising their lawful energy as the bulk in each the Home and the Senate, President Trump and his assiduous helper, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, will proceed to chop invaluable public assets into ribbons.

The willy-nilly chopping of workers on the National Weather Service and the Federal Aviation Administration are among the many current examples to make headlines as life-preserving federal companies scramble to fill positions sliced by Musk’s “DOGE” crew. In case you have different examples, drop a be aware within the remark thread. Higher but, find your representatives in Congress and allow them to know what you suppose.

Picture (cropped): The Pennsylvania agency Voltify is laying plans for a community of solar-powered microgrids to ferry renewable vitality across the nation by freight automotive whereas decarbonizing diesel-electric locomotives, too (courtesy of Voltify).