The Central Railway started production of solar power at its four more locations on Sunday including Igatpuri railway hospital, Igatpuri railway station, Kasara railway station and Titwala cabin.
After the start of solar power generation at these four locations, the number of total sites of solar power generation at the CR has gone up to 48. With the help of these 48 sites of solar power generation sites, now yearly production of CRs green energy will be up to 2.5 million which will save Rs 1.9 crore fuel cost every year.
“The Central Railways’ transition to clean energy would not only cut down on annual carbon emissions of 412 tonnes but also help the national transporter save Rs 1.9 crore in fuel costs every year,” said Shivaji Sutar CPRO CR.
Earlier on Sunday Anil Kumar Lahoti, General Manager, Central Railway conducted the annual inspection on the Igatpuri – Kalyan section of Mumbai Division.
Apart from solar power installation at Igatpuri hospital, Igatpuri station and Kasara station, Lahoti also inspected reservation counters booking offices, crew lobby, running room, training coach, made from a discarded coach.
In accordance with North Central Railway (NCR), 94 lakh units of energy have been produced employing solar power compared to 81 lakh units of energy produced using solar power during April-December 2020-21, which accounts for a rise of 16%.
It is a significant step from Railways towards a bigger aim of environmental conservation because solar energy is a cleaner form of electricity, and it has also resulted in significant financial savings for NCR which accounts for Rs 3.82 crores in its net revenue from April to December 2021.
During the same period, NCR used solar electricity to reduce its carbon impact by about 8000 tonnes and solar panels produced a CUF of 12.9%, which is deemed a discernable performance.
According to the current report of the Standing Committee on Railways on Demand for Grants, there are unoccupied railway land parcels along the lines and vacant railway plots accessible for the installation of solar panels, for the identification and utilization of which Indian Railways has issued directions to zonal railways.
Indian Railways intends to build 20 gigatonnes (GW) of solar power on unoccupied land portions to meet its traction power needs.
The report says that the railways intend to build a 3 GW solar power facility in three stages. Under the developer model, 1.6 GW of capacity will be built in phase I. In phase II, 400 megawatts (MW) of capacity will be installed under the ownership model, and 1 GW of capacity will be installed along the lines under the developer model in phase III.
This is the world’s first solar project in which solar electricity is directly delivered to the overhead equipment system used for electric traction, the report said.
