Dieter Napitupulu, director of Mutitron Automa, a private solar engineering company based in Indonesia, is also interested in the Swiss innovation. He intends to start with the city of Bogor in the West Java province and then extend solar rail to the entire island.

Sun-Ways is also among the projects being watched by Japan’s Ministry of Landscape, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). Japan wants to take advantage of rail tracks and other railway facilities to increase solar production and meet its decarbonisation goals by 2050.

But before they adopt the Swiss system, MLIT officials must clarify some questions around the safety of train operation and maintenance work on the tracks.