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SunTrain aims to transport batteries charged with solar and wind energy along rail networks to the locations where they are needed.
SunTrain, an innovative US energy transportation company, is tackling the challenge of renewable energy distribution with a novel solution: battery-powered trains that travel fully charged from sunny and windy locations to where the power is needed.
The company was founded in 2021 on the concept of transporting energy by rail, much like oil and coal are transported by rail for use in remote locations.
SunTrain aims to use the existing US rail network to transport 120-car battery trains to supply renewable energy. In its initial phase, each car will house a 9.6 MWh battery, weighing 80 tonnes. The total payload is therefore around 1.15 GWh, enough to supply the daily needs of 120,000 households.
The idea is to charge batteries from solar plants and transport the green energy to where it is needed. Essentially, the idea creates a bridge before transmission lines are installed, which can take 5-10 years from planning and approval to installation and commissioning.
So far, the company has tested a custom 750 KWh train car, fully charged with solar power at the SunTrain testbed in San Francisco and transported more than 10,500 km on the Union Pacific network in California.
SunTrain is preparing “a partnership with a major utility and a Department of Energy national laboratory” to develop a 20-car, 384 MWh grid-connected pilot project. The project would move wind and solar power 200 km away to be unloaded at a location that would reduce the use of gas-fired power plants and emissions.
In an interview with ESS News , Christopher D. Smith, SunTrain’s chief technical officer, discussed the vision and technology behind the plan.
“SunTrain reimagines energy transmission and storage by leveraging existing rail infrastructure to deliver scalable, grid-connected solutions that accelerate decarbonization and renewable energy,” Smith said. The goal is to use the U.S. network of more than 100,000 miles of rail lines to transport grid-ready electricity, similar to how coal and other energy sources are transported today.
While the core of SunTrain’s technology is custom-built battery containers mounted on rail cars, the most significant challenge is the charging and discharging infrastructure.
“Getting 2 GWh of energy discharged in four hours is no easy feat,” Smith said. Developing a seamless, durable charging and discharging system that would allow our trains to fully charge and discharge simultaneously without removing the batteries from the car was our biggest challenge. At the same time, this capability is critical to SunTrain’s strategy of focusing on peak demand periods in wholesale energy markets.
"This is the standard time block used by grid operators using energy storage systems in the wholesale market," Smith said.
Economy
The company’s current levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is approximately $60/MWh and falling, opening the door to operating profitably in the volatile energy market. SunTrain anticipates being able to sell power at prices between $100 and $150 per MWh, depending on regional market conditions. The company is also investigating alternative revenue streams, such as power purchase agreements (PPAs), and participating as an EPC contractor on build-own-transfer projects, as evidenced by a partnership with Xcel Energy.
As for potential regulatory issues, Smith said: “No, the regulatory hurdles have been carefully researched and prepared for. As far as we know, there are no regulatory barriers. Energy is already running on the freight rail network, and we are just a different form.”
The company is also raising money through a crowdfunding scheme. |
