EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Toward Sustainable Urban Transport: Integrating Solar Energy into an Andean Tram Route

Mayra-Gabriela Rivas-Villa (), Carlos Flores-Vázquez, Manuel Álvarez-Vera and Juan-Carlos Cobos-Torres ()
Additional contact information
Mayra-Gabriela Rivas-Villa: Unidad Académica de Ingeniería, Industria y Construcción, Universidad Católica de Cuenca, Cuenca 010101, Ecuador
Carlos Flores-Vázquez: Unidad Académica de Informática, Ciencias de la Computación, e Innovación Tecnológica, Universidad Católica de Cuenca, Cuenca 010101, Ecuador
Manuel Álvarez-Vera: Unidad Académica de Ingeniería, Industria y Construcción, Universidad Católica de Cuenca, Cuenca 010101, Ecuador
Juan-Carlos Cobos-Torres: Unidad Académica de Ingeniería, Industria y Construcción, Universidad Católica de Cuenca, Cuenca 010101, Ecuador

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 19, 1-24

Abstract: Climate change has prompted the adoption of sustainable measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly in urban transportation. The integration of renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, offers a promising strategy to enhance sustainability in urban transit systems. This study assessed solar irradiation along the tram route in Cuenca—an Andean city characterized by distinctive topographic and climatic conditions—with the aim of evaluating the technical feasibility of integrating solar energy into the tram infrastructure. A descriptive, applicative, and longitudinal approach was adopted. Solar irradiation was monitored using a system composed of a fixed station and a mobile station, the latter installed on a tram vehicle. Readings carried out over fourteen months facilitated the analysis of seasonal and spatial variability of the available solar resource. The fixed station recorded average irradiation values ranging from 3.80 to 4.61 kWh/m 2 ·day, while the mobile station reported values between 2.60 and 3.41 kWh/m 2 ·day, revealing losses due to urban shading, with reductions ranging from 14.7% to 18.8% compared to fixed-site values. It was estimated that a fixed photovoltaic system of up to 1.068 MWp could be installed at the tram maintenance depot using 580 Wp panels, with the capacity to supply approximately 81% of the annual electricity demand of the tram system. Complementary solar installations at tram stops, stations, and other related infrastructure are also proposed. The results demonstrate the technical feasibility of integrating solar energy—through fixed and mobile systems—into the tram infrastructure of Cuenca. This approach provides a scalable model for energy planning in urban transport systems in Andean contexts or other regions with similar characteristics.

Keywords: solar energy; urban transport; Andean tram route; photovoltaic integration; solar irradiation; sustainable mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/19/5143/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/19/5143/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:19:p:5143-:d:1759707

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Cassie Shen

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().

 
Page updated 2025-09-28
Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:19:p:5143-:d:1759707