Colorado officials think freight trains are the key to renewable energy transmission statewide. Here's why.
In Eaton, there's an experimental train car. It carries materials for energy but it isn't oil, natural gas or coal. Essentially, it's a giant battery lumbering down the tracks to help alleviate Colorado's increasing electricity needs.
"We can actually move grid-ready electricity as commodity over the existing freight rail network," said Christopher Smith, the Chief Technology Officer of SunTrain, the company that pledges to transform the state's energy future.
The challenge is there is currently a lack of transmission lines in the state and nationwide. Construction of these lines -- which are extremely costly and time-consuming to build -- is lagging far behind what is needed to adequately transmit energy around the state. Currently, much of the solar and wind energy produced in Colorado is tucked away in the southeast corner of the state.
"The grid is starting to become difficult and low balancing," Smith said. "We need new transmission lines. We need a lot of new infrastructure in general."
So the solution, SunTrain officials say, is to move it by rail instead. The argument is exceedingly simple. Energy has been transported by rail since the dawn of America's industrial age. There are defunct energy plants -- particularly coal plants -- that can be makeshift power substations for the trains coming in from the solar or wind farms. Then, the trains can power up in Pueblo, take their energy to the Denver metro area or wherever in the state needs the energy.
"This is the first time you actually have a solution to the transmission problem that actually can be moved as congestion needs change," said Jeff Anderson, SunTrain's CEO.
"We're going to need some of those solutions to make sure that prices go down for Colorado consumers and the reliability goes up," added Gov. Jared Polis, who was on hand for the event Wednesday.
He is a believer in the project and thinks that the startup can match Xcel Energy's Power Pathway project in terms of its potential for helping the state. The same day as the event, Polis mentioned that Colorado has overtaken California as the top state in the U.S. for electric vehicle ownership.
"That's very exciting but it also means we have to be even more thoughtful about a low-cost, resilient renewable energy delivery system," the governor explained.
There is still grant money that the startup has to secure and, of course, the safety test. The batteries aren't lithium powered but instead iron sulphite, a resource that's easy to find and much less volatile, says Smith.
Each car has security redundancies including a power-off switch that automatically triggers if there is an anomaly in power levels and a fire suppression system. SunTrain officials told media that there will also be exhaustive testing done on the cars to make sure that the trains pose the least amount of explosive risk in the event of a derailment or crash.
If all goes well, they say, the trains could be on existing Union Pacific rail lines by 2031.
