Rail transportation, including commercial freight, is one of the most environmentally friendly modes of moving people and products from point to point, and a new startup aims to harness this network to expand the distribution of clean energy.
SunTrain has announced its new pilot project in Colorado called the Wireless Alternative by Train Transport (WATT). This aims to shuttle batteries charged with renewable energy from where it's generated to remote areas that are underserved by the transmission grid.
As TechXplore reported, Christopher Smith and Jeff Anderson of SunTrain see the potential for bypassing transmission bottlenecks by using freight trains to haul large batteries to sites like natural gas and coal plants. There, they can distribute electricity to the grid and reduce reliance on those dirty fuel sources while utilizing the existing framework.
"Right now, a majority of green energy projects are built around transmission access. All the low-hanging fruit around transmission line access has been gobbled up over the last 20 years," Smith shared in the report.
"That led me to start thinking if there was another way to start bringing electrons to market. Is there another delivery method to bring electrons to load centers and consumers?"
This would utilize the already eco-friendly railway system to bolster solar and wind power delivery to customers. According to the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, railroads account for 40% of long-distance freight in the U.S., while only contributing 1.9% of all transportation-related pollution.
"In storing gigawatt-hours of clean energy from solar and wind in battery railcars that are then transported over existing freight rail networks, SunTrain offers a creative alternative to traditional transmission. This provides an immediate, alternative connection between renewable energy generation and load, bypassing the congested transmission system," as SunTrain shared in a press release.
"Importantly, it also supports an economic transition for workers and communities by replacing lost coal transport business with battery freight cars and repurposing retiring fossil fuel power plants as charge/discharge points."
Safety is also a top priority for SunTrain's project. Railways are already built to handle heavy loads that would be too much for trucks, and each of the company's lithium-iron-phosphate batteries weighs about 120 tons, as TechXplore detailed.
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The trains are expected to run approximately 80 to 100 cars, and since their batteries are only 6% lithium compared to 60% in some with other chemical compositions, the report explained, there would be less chance of explosions or fire in the case of an accident.
Once SunTrain clears regulatory hurdles, it could be fully developed in two years and have the first train up and running in four.
"Working with our outstanding collaboration partners, SunTrain hopes to expand upon Colorado's outsized role in addressing climate change by completing our technology development and deploying our first grid-scale pilot project here," said SunTrain CEO Jeff Anderson in the press release.
"As a result of our collective efforts, the WATT project will pave the way for SunTrain's commercialization and mass adoption in Colorado and nationally."
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