An American startup, SunTrain, has proposed a new way to deliver clean energy: using trains equipped with lithium-ion batteries. Each railcar can store up to 17.2 MWh, and an entire train can carry hundreds of megawatt-hours. This makes it possible to move energy between regions without building transmission lines.
The platforms have already been tested on 10,000 miles of railways in California and Colorado. A pilot project with Xcel Energy is now planned: a train carrying 344 MWh will deliver green energy to a former coal-fired power plant in Denver. This approach makes use of existing infrastructure, speeds up decarbonization and lowers costs. Instead of complex permitting, it moves by rail.
SunTrain has already raised $5.25 million in investment and plans to expand the project. The scaling potential is 32 GWh. But the main point is mobility. If one region has a temporary surplus of clean energy, a train with batteries can deliver it where there is currently a shortage. There is no need to run wires through mountains or forests — just rails and a timetable.
