Indian Railways Setup 3.7 MW Of Solar Plants, Says MNRE

Indian Railways Setup 3.7 MW Of Solar Plants, Says MNRE

Indian Railways has set up 3.7 MW of solar power plants till now, data from MNRE revealed. Minister of State (MoS) for New and Renewable Energy Shripad Yesso Naik in his latest statement before Lok Sabha shed light on the solarisation of Indian railways.

This comes at a time when the Indian Railways is on a spree to decarbonize their operations by using more green power. It has also planned to go net zero by 2030. The ministry is now using solar as well as wind energy to fuel a good portion of its energy needs.

“So far, Indian Railways has already set up about 3.7 MW of solar power plants on land along the railway tracks. Further, the proliferation of solar plants on land along the tracks is an ongoing process and will be taken up based on feasibility and viability,” the ministry said.

Green Railway Initiative 

Ministry of Railways, with a goal of transforming Indian Railways into Green Railways by 2030, has taken a number of major initiatives towards mitigation of global warming and combating climate change. Railway Electrification, improving energy efficiency of locomotives & trains and fixed installations, green certification for installations/stations and switching to renewable sources of energy are parts of its strategy of achieving net zero carbon emission. Indian Railways has undertaken some major initiatives to Go Green.

In order to achieve its objective of becoming 100% 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. Many of its stations have become net-zero. On the other hand, the ministry has also used the roofs of its railway stations to install rooftop solar.

Using vacant land 

Indian Railways has a mega plan for installing solar plants of 20 GW capacity by utilizing its vacant land by 2030. Some of the Stations solarised are Varanasi, New Delhi,Old Delhi , Jaipur ,Secunderabad , Kolkata , Guwahati , Hyderabad , Howrah etc.

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. It may be noted that Railways is also set to achieve 100% electrification by the year 2023.