[hx8]

It's solar, of course the unit economics are going to pencil out positive in the majority of climates and energy markets. The real question is "why should we put them here instead of somewhere else."

I wonder if the benefits are legal/jurisdiction/political. The total amount of track they could install this on is huge, and it doesn't seem like something that will be disagreeable on the local level. It could just be the easiest place to put it to deal with property law and zoning etc.

Another political benefit is that it means work for a very large number of jurisdictions, as there are suitable tracks just about everywhere.

[JumpCrisscross]

> It's solar, of course the unit economics are going to pencil out positive in the majority of climates and energy markets

This is far from an of course. There were idiots trying to do solar roads a few years ago. The math didn't pencil out.

[hx8]

1. That was 20 years ago. I wonder how it would pencil out now.

2. Yeah it was kind of dumb to put the panels into a high wear environment like a road.

3. What matters more is which projects pencil out the best. There are too many to choose from that have a positive ROI.

[JumpCrisscross]

> 3. What matters more is which projects pencil out the best. There are too many to choose from that have a positive ROI

Sure. I'm unconvinced a railroad is the best place we need to be putting panels for anything other than PR value.

[hx8]

If PR value gets panels installed faster than they otherwise would be who cares. The most important thing is we install as much solar as possible as quickly as possible, because we're killing ourselves fighting wars for other energy sources that poison our entire planet to use.