ABB India bags order to install solar inverters at 750 railway stations in the country

The 750 stations are located in the busy northern Indian part of the Indian Railways network, one of the most used railway corridors in the world.

ABB India has bagged order to install solar inverters at 750 railway stations in north India to reduce dependence on traditional sources of energy. The 750 stations are located in the busy northern Indian part of the Indian Railways network, one of the most used railway corridors in the world.

ABB solar inverters for this project vary between 5kW to 50kW in performance depending on the size of the station, part of the ABB Ability of connected solutions; the customer can ensure uptime through remote management services. They will be part of the solar installations being set up by Azure Power. ABB set up its solar inverter manufacturing facility in India in 2012 and contributes to approximately 40 percent of the country’s solar installations. ABB solar inverters have been widely used in the transportation sector, deployed, for instance, in the world’s first fully solar powered airport in Kochi.

ABB recently reached a milestone of 5 GW of solar inverters installed, supplying some 40 percent of India’s solar power at approximately 13 GW.

“Azure Power has superior rooftop solar power solutions for infrastructure, commercial and industrial customers in cities across India to lower their energy costs and meet their greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets. We are pleased to partner with ABB and Indian Railways in reducing GHG emissions through deployment of solar energy at railway stations across India” said Inderpreet S Wadhwa, Chairman and CEO, Azure Power.

“We are privileged to partner with Azure Power to support the renewable energy drive of Indian Railways,” said Sanjeev Sharma, Managing Director, ABB India. “ABB has been an integral technology partner for railways for decades, providing technology from turbochargers to substations. The scope and scale of this order is a tribute to ABB quality for such critical installations, used by millions. Providing the latest technology to drive energy revolution in sectors like transportation is a part of ABB’s next level strategy,” he added.

Indian Railways moves more than 12,500 trains and 23 million passengers daily, equivalent to the population of Australia. The company operates more than 8,000 stations across the country and is looking at building solar plants to supply clean power for their operations. In the second stage the objective is a net zero energy concept wherein power is generated and consumed within the operations. As per reports, the Indian Railways has a current renewable energy generation capacity of 36 MW and plans to ramp it up to 1,000 MW.