The Challenge

ProRail aims to ensure that all equipment and vehicles for ProRail Incident Response are completely emission-free by the year 2030. Currently, ProRail is already facing an increasing number of zero-emission zones, where the incident response teams must comply with regulations regarding greenhouse gas emissions. Both during transport and at the sites where work is carried out, ProRail must and wants to operate completely emission-free as quickly as possible.

The main challenges:

• Making all work completely emission-free at the most remote locations along the railway before the year 2030.
• Ensuring that sufficient power is always available on-site, with fully charged batteries being recharged on location.
• Finding solutions that are vandal-proof: alternatives to generators that continue to function in hard-to-reach areas and under varying weather conditions.

The solution

ProRail’s technical team equipped the incident container with four solar panels (1600 watts peak) using Wattsun technology. These panels are connected to two Wattsun Docks and two Wattsun Packs, allowing solar energy to be directly stored and used within the container. ProRail uses Wattsun’s power for various purposes, including a lifting aid to handle heavy goods from the container, lighting in the dark, and even to brew coffee and charge equipment.

Impact

Polluting generators no longer fit ProRail’s vision, says Edward Hueting, Project Leader Sustainability. “They are no longer acceptable for the future. Not only because of their environmental impact, but also due to the smell, noise, and so on.”

He continues: “We chose this solution because we were looking for something that is vandal-proof and can be used in the field in all conditions. We are always in hard-to-reach places, and the weather conditions are not always favorable. At the same time, we always need power. We need to be sure it works. And this solution is simply perfect.”