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Comment by pvsukale1 | Hacker News Reader

I just wish those solar panels don't get stolen. That's a major problem with major valuable government installations here. People have stolen coal, road construction material etc. Although this seems impossible with the solar panels as they have been attached tightly. But with internal help from government employees, it is not.

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Coal, Road construction materials, switches, panels, lights,etc have immediate economic value, even in small quantities.

Solar Panels are a whole different game altogether. IMO theft is not such a big issue.

The bigger issue is power loss due to lack of cleaning, battery life reduction due to lack of maintenance, etc.

It's not just the panels, you have batteries, converters, etc that need good maintenance to get a consistent ROI. However, the unit cost of power from diesel is definitely much higher than that from the grid and solar panels have a pretty good ROI when compared to power from the grid.

I personally think this transition would have been more efficient if all engines are switched to the electric ones and electricity is provided from stationary solar power plants in the higher radiation regions. It will be more efficient and easy to maintain.

What so you mean by electric engines? Electrification of rail lines is a pretty expensive undertaking, although I will admit I'm not certain of the specifics. I'm guessing that it makes sense only for shorter distances, which is why local trains/metros do use electrified tracks.

This seems like a good step in reducing costs of long distance train travel. Not to mention: a lot of experience would be gained in installing and operating solar panels, which could then be used elsewhere.

Thinking in terms of long-term ROI is a better way to evaluate electrification of Rail lines, rather than the upfront cost. Govt's can bear such a cost and ROI on electrified rail lines should be pretty damn good.

It's not impossible. Also, there is a scope of making the whole system carbon neutral.

I always wondered why electrification of major rail lines is not accompanied by updating and implementation of a more modern and efficient power grip. The two can parallel each other due to right of ways and while you cannot directly power your train from those high voltage lines the substations along the way make for good connection points

I don't know about other countries, but in India, the Rail power grid is completely isolated from the consumer grid.

Also, from a technical standpoint, especially for renewable energy systems, it's best to have isolated pockets of energy generation and consumption rather than a country wide grid.

Due to the intermittent nature of power available from renewable energy sources, it's best to have micro grids and micro storage systems.

In case of railway lines, the load on the network can be calculated to a very good accuracy, unlike the consumer grid. Hypothetically, this can mean that the rail grid can be isolated and be managed at a very high efficiency level.

Electrification becomes economical wherever there is a lot of _traffic_, independent of the length of the lines. The Transssibirian railway is electrified, and it hosts the longest passenger train-car (Moscow-Pyongyang, 9 days).

True. A Regional battery system, with isolated grids and solar panels should be a viable system, especially since the load is known almost perfectly before hand.

Think about all the lead poisoning.

Li-Ion batteries are much safer for the environment. Most modern battery systems use such types.

I think you'd find that people would start tapping the tracks for the power.

You mean from the 25 kV lines?

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