Colorado begins transmitting solar power using a freight train full of batteries.

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/suntrain-experimental-train-car-solar-energy-union-pacific-rail-lines-colorado/

by GreenStrong

8 comments

  2. Yes, they’re literally doing this- currently on the scale of a pilot project. This is discussed in some depth around the [12 minute mark of the latest episode of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast](https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/suntrain-experimental-train-car-solar-energy-union-pacific-rail-lines-colorado/) The hosts provide some context about the long process of getting grid interconnections approved, and the political divide between the Pueblo and Denver regions. They don’t generally think this makes sense, but they provide context for why someone thought it might make sense in this particular place.

    This is really an anecdote about the rapid pace of development in renewables, and the slow pace of upgrading infrastructure in America. China is building infrastructure rapidly. We need to take better care of the environment and private property rights than they do, but perhaps there is a middle ground.

  3. I can see this having niche uses long term, such as providing power to areas facing extended blackouts or rural areas where massive new transmission lines aren’t financially possible (or physically possible given the Rocky Mountains bifurcating the state). I can’t imagine it making sense long term or as the typical method of power delivery.

    Like since it seems Texas cannot get their act together as far as their power grid, this could help prevent those kinds of failures by providing some “plug in” capacity in emergencies or when a plant needs to go offline for some reason.

  4. I get not wanting to build transmission lines, but burning diesel to just transport energy seems like an economic nonstarter.

    Like, how much diesel would one of these trains have to burn to move that energy compared to an isolated diesel plant?

    it also at least partially cancels out the benefits of renewables.

  5. If they build a high speed train (maglev or something) it will be much faster to move electricity around.

  6. Transmission lines = Long term fix
    Battery Banks in Trains = short term fix

    It takes upward of a decade to get transmission lines build. This is due to difficult approvals process and nimby-ism.

    More power is produced in southern Colorado. More is used in the front range area (Denver/Colorado Springs).  As a result batteries on rails and fulfill this short term need and can lead folks to realize the true cost of the lack of transmission lines. It may push up the timeline for transmission lines to be build. 

  8. And people say hydrogen delivery is cumbersome? This train thing is silly. We need people under 40 making some of these decisions

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