This is in addition to the plan to set up 500MW solar capacity
panels on the rooftops of railway stations
Since
trains already have batteries attached to the coaches, the electricity
generated from the solar panels will be used to run fans and lights and not to
provide power for the locomotive’s traction. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint
New Delhi: In what may be a game-changer in helping
the Indian Railways cut energy costs, the government may provide subsidy for
putting solar panels on the roofs of around 500 trains to generate electricity.
This is in addition to
the plan to set up 500 megawatts (MW) solar capacity panels on the rooftops of
railway stations. Recently, the Indian Railways, the country’s largest consumer
of electricity, ran a pilot coach with solar panels fitted on its roof.
Since trains already
have batteries attached to the coaches, the electricity generated from the
solar panels will be used to run fans and lights and not to provide power for
the locomotive’s traction.
“The railways plan to
fit the roof with solar panels for other trains as well. The ministry of new
and renewable energy is ready to provide subsidy for around 500 trains towards
this purpose,” said a government official, requesting anonymity.
The railways also plans
to source 10% of its electricity demand through renewable energy sources by
2020 and signed four agreements with the ministries of power and renewable
energy last month. Indian Railways’ power consumption is growing at an average
5% a year and its power bill is estimated at Rs.12,500 crore in the year ended 31 March.
The national carrier is
also conducting an energy audit to estimate the amount of savings made and is
planning a transmission system to carry the power generated, in an attempt to
cut its power costs.
Spokespersons for the
Indian Railways and the ministry of new and renewable energy did not respond to Mint’s
emailed rquests for a comment.
“Indian Railways is the
single biggest consumer of energy and hence it is imperative that the railways
must look towards alternative sources of energy,” said railway minister Suresh
Prabhu in a 4 August statement.
“The minister said that
it has already been announced in this year’s railway budget that Indian
Railways will be setting up 1,000MW solar plants in next five years and the
suitable initiatives for implementing this have been undertaken. Shri Suresh
Prabhu said that railways has already initiated the process of using rooftop of
railway buildings for generating solar power. We have also taken innovative
initiative for harnessing solar energy by putting solar panels on the roof of
railway coaches,” the statement added.
On Monday, SunEdison
Inc. announced the installation of eight solar systems for Delhi Metro Rail
Corp.’s Badarpur-Faridabad line, which is expected to generate 1.9MW. SunEdison
is also setting up a 1.7MW solar plant at the Yamuna Bank station and yard.
The Indian Railways
plans to reduce electricity bills by nearly one-third by seeking competitive
bids from power producers, sourcing from electricity exchanges and reaching
bilateral arrangements, according to this year’s railway budget.
As part of this
strategy, it is trying to take advantage of its position as the largest
consumer of power in the country to bring down electricity costs by calling for
bids from power producers to supply 1,010MW of electricity over three years,Mint reported
on 17 July.
By calling for
competitive bids, the railways expects to benefit from lower tariffs. The
transporter is seeking to reduce its electricity cost to less than Rs.5 per unit from the current average of around Rs.7 per unit.
The National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) government has pushed renewable energy to the top of its energy
security agenda and is looking to provide green power at less thanRs.4.50 per unit. India needs as much as $250
billion to meet its target of installing 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar power and
60,000MW of wind power by 2022.
Analysts have welcomed
the government’s ambitious plans.
“India’s utility scale
solar project pipeline is growing rapidly, bringing the government’s ambitious
solar goals closer. The installed capacity stands at 4.4GW and projects under
development and allocation stand at an additional 10.9GW. The pipeline number
is expected to swell further as new tenders are released,” Bridge to India, a
solar energy consulting firm, said in a 7 September statement.
“While the market might
still fall short of the 60GW target for utility scale projects, this market
growth would make India a key global market over the next few years. Depending
on the performance of the Japanese market, India could become the third or the
fourth largest solar market in the world,” it said.
Original Post: Utpal Bhaskar
No comments:
Post a Comment