Railways Awards Contracts To 6 Firms For Its 750MW RE Project

Railways Awards Contracts To 6 Firms For Its 750MW RE Project

The Indian Railways has chosen six renewable energy companies to develop 750 MW of Round-The-Clock (RTC) renewable power. This comes after it released a tender earlier last year seeking developers. The Railway Energy Management Company Limited (REMCL) floated the tender.

REMCL is a joint venture of the Indian Railways and RITES Ltd. As per the tender results, REMCL has selected NTPC Renewable Energy, ReNew Solar Power Tata Power Renewable, O2 Power, ACME Cleantech and Torrent Power for the ambitious project. This comes at a time when Indian Railways have committed to becoming net-zero and working towards increasing their reliance on renewable power. 

REMCL has awarded the highest of 200 MW capacities each to ReNew Solar and NTPC Renewable Energy. On the other hand, Torrent Power, O2 Power and ACME Cleantech have been given 100 MW capacities each. On the other hand, Tata Power got an allotment of 50MW of solar power. Torrent is said to have quoted the lowest bid in this at the rate of Rs 4.25 per unit.

In October last year, REMCL invited developers through a tender on behalf of the Indian Railways for the supply of 750 MW of RTC power from grid-connected renewable sources with or without storage. It asked the developers to submit their bid by November 2 last year. 

“Each bid must have at least 100 MW of capacity. The annual availability of the project for the initial four years is pegged at 75% and will increase to 85% for the rest of the contract years,” the tender had said.

Interestingly, the Indian Railways is boosting several railway projects or making arrangements with renewable generators to decarbonize its operations. Several of its railway stations are now using solar panels to use solar power for their operations. It has also tied up with wind energy generators in Rajasthan to boost the use of clean energy. Several of their railway stations are net-zero railway stations.