Western Railway saves Rs 3 cr due to 'solar power'

The Western Railway (WR) has claimed that it has slashed power bills worth Rs three crore by exploiting solar power at 75 stations on its network, an official said today.

These rooftop solar plants generate a whopping 8.67MW, resulting in the handsome savings during the current financial year, besides accelerating the Indian Railways' (IR) mission to achieve the goal of 'Net Zero Carbon Emission Railway' before 2030, said WR chief spokesperson Sumit Thakur.

The solar plants have been installed in 22 stations in Mumbai Division, 34 in Ratlam, eight in Rajkot and six in Vadodara, besides the Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar Divisions.

In the Mumbai Division, rooftop power plants have been installed at places like Churchgate, Mumbai Central Terminus, Dadar Terminus, Bandra Terminus and other stations in Thane and Palghar.

Thakur said that by 2030, the IR is set to produce solar power for all its energy requirement needs of over 33 billion units, with the current annual requirements being around 20 billion units.

For achieving this, the IR has chalked plans to install solar plants of 20GW by 2030 on around 51,000 hectares of its vacant, un-encroached lands.

Simultaneously, IR also hopes to achieve 100 per cent electrification on all its lines by 2023 to ensure a complete 'Green Mode of Transportation' in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal, Thakur added..