Riding Sunbeams: powering our railways with solar PV

Using specially designed power electronics, solar PV can be connected directly to electrified railways to power trains, with no need to connect to the grid. However, this has not yet been done anywhere in the world. Environmental charity 10:10 issued its first report on how small solar farms installed alongside Britain’s dc electrified tracks could provide around one tenth of the energy needed to power trains on these routes each year.