Tiruchy Railway Division To Install Solar at All Stations

The Tiruchy division of the Indian Railways is mulling to install solar power panels in more railway stations in a phase wise manner to increase its power uptake from renewable sources.

The entire Tiruchy railway division currently is producing more than 370 KW of renewable power. As per reports, the division wants to increase the solar power production to 490 KW to increase the solar energy in its usage.

Out of the total, the Tiruchy railway junction alone is producing 200 KW of green energy. The other railway stations in the Tiruchy division are generating near about 10 KW on an average per station.

The Tiruchy division has come up with a new plan for solar expansion and 12 stations will see the coming up of 10 KW solar panels on each of them. These stations include Pondicherry, Tiruchy railway junction, Chidambaram, Ariyalur, Cuddalore Port, Nagapattinam, Karaikal, Thiruthuraipoondi, Mannargudi, Vellore, Srirangam, and Tiruvannamalai.

This means that the solar capacity at Tiruchy junction will be stepped up to 210 KW. Presently, the solar installation satisfies about one third of the station’s power needs.

Solar energy is helping the railways save millions. The wind energy developed in the Madurai division has saved Rs 48 crore until now for the Southern Railways.

Indian Railways is bullish on the renewable additions to its power needs. It has a goal to steadily reduce its carbon impact and achieve net zero emissions by 2030. A 30 GW installation of renewable capacity is anticipated to be needed by 2029–2030. Up till August 2022, Indian Railways had installed 142 MW of rooftop solar capacity and 103.4 MW of wind energy, it stated.

Recently, the West Central Railway issued a tender soliciting bids for the implementation of rooftop/cop, solar PV system at 3 divisions of West Central Railway. The projects are located at Kota division and have an aggregated capacity of 12 MW through public-private partnership (PPP) basis. Tiruchy plan is a natural expansion of the railway’s plan.