Indian Railways proposes to harness 1000 MW solar and 150MW wind energy by 2020

No more free rides for railways for power purchase

Indian Railways has proposed to harness 1000 Mega Watt (MW) solar and 150 MW wind energy by the year 2020.

Minister of State for Railways, Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Wednesday said “a total of about 50 MW renewable energy capacity has been installed till date including approximately 11 MW solar power & 37 MW wind power. Additionally, installation of 6.5 MW is in progress and for about 50 MW solar capacities, Request For Qualification (RFQ) has been issued by Zonal Railways.”

For harnessing renewable energy sources for Railway requirements, the mechanism put in place include signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Ministry of Railways and Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE), finalization of Model Bid documents for rooftop solar power plants etc. with the financial support of MNRE. Based on these Model Bid Documents, Zonal Railways have floated tender documents for installation of solar rooftop plants at Railways premises.

Such renewable energy plants are being put up in Railways in an economical manner to reduce the cost of energy with Viable Gap Funding (VGF) from Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.