New Delhi (NVI): Indian Railways is set to produce solar energy for meeting all it’s energy consumption needs of more than 33 billion units by 2030 and become a “net zero carbon emitter”, according to Ministry of Railways statement.
Indian Railways has a mega plan for installing solar plants of 20 GW capacity by utilizing its vacant land by 2030, the statement added.
In order to achieve its objective of becoming 100 per cent self-sustainable for all it’s power needs and also to contribute to national solar power goals, Indian Railways has solarised more than 960 stations till date.
Indian Railways, Green Railways: In mission mode, Railways solarises 960 Railway Stations, and moves closer to becoming a Net Zero Carbon Emission Railway by 2030 ☀️
? https://t.co/u1xpwDqrSS pic.twitter.com/BZvEkpn02H
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) August 31, 2020
Furthermore, orders have been placed for 198 MW solar rooftop capacity for 550 stations which are under execution.
Some of the stations already solarised are Varanasi, New Delhi, Old Delhi, Jaipur, Secunderabad, Kolkata, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Howrah and so on.
About 51,000 hectare vacant land available with Indian Railways and is now ready to extend all support to the developers for installing solar power plants on Railway’s vacant un-encroached land. Railways is also set to achieve 100% electrification by the year 2023.
Railways is committed to utilize solar energy for meeting its traction power requirement and become a complete ‘Green mode of transportation’. This is in line with the recent directive of Prime Minister to solarise railway stations and utilize vacant railway land for Renewable Energy (RE) projects.
The use of solar power will accelerate the Railways’ mission to achieve the goal of becoming ‘Net Zero Carbon Emission Railway’.
In this regard, to begin with, bids for 3 GW solar projects on vacant Railway land parcels and land parcels along the railway track have already been invited by Railway Energy Management Company Ltd. (REMCL), a PSU of Indian Railways. These solar projects, besides supplying power to Railways at reduced tariff, will also protect the Railway land by the construction of boundary wall along the track.
-CHK
