Oct 26 2010
Enfinity, a clean renewable energy company, has associated with Infrabel that manages and maintains the Belgium railway network, to initiate a solar power project work that requires building of rooftop solar panels over the high-speed railway tunnel, which runs along Belgium’s E19 highway.
The 2 km railway tunnel connects Amsterdam and Paris through Brussels in Belgium. Total cost of the project is estimated to be around $20.1 million.
The total roof surface area of the tunnel that needs to be covered with solar panels measures around 50,000 m2 or approximately an area that can accommodate 8 football grounds. Enfinity has to install over 16,000 solar panels to cover the area and the installation will produce around 3.3 MWh of solar electricity every year. The company has already started the installation of solar panels over the northern side of the tunnel and is scheduled to complete the project by December 2010. Infrabel will utilize the generated solar power to provide lighting to its Antwerp North-South junction and to run the high-speed as well as conventional trains that run on the Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris line.
According to Patrick Decuyper, Enfinity Europe’s CEO, the company will incorporate a special ballast tile type of construction that does not require penetrations over the roof to install the mono-crystalline solar panels, each with a 245 W power producing capability. He added that the company has taken into consideration the anticipated roof vibrations during the running of high speed trains.
Source: http://www.enfinitycorp.com/