Indian Railways Drawing 4 GW Solar Project Bid for Powering Locos

NEW DELHI: Indian Railways will soon run trains using solar power from arrays of photovoltaic cells deployed on both sides of select electrified tracks in 10 states, replacing 4,000 MW of coal-fired electricity in bid to become a green transporter.

Government sources told TOI the Railway Board is examining the project bid document, stipulating local manufacturing for 1,200 MW of equipment under the ‘Make In India’ initiativeu, prepared by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), an entity under the renewable energy ministry. The tender, estimated to be worth Rs 16,000 crore, is expected shortly.

“This is a historic step towards Indian Railways becoming a ‘net zero emitter’ by 2030. Indian Railways is by far the greenest travel option for transportation,” railways and coal minister Piyush Goyal said in response to a TOI query on Wednesday but did not give details.

The sources said under the proposal, Railways will offer vacant land, often threatened by encroachment, on both sides of the identified tracks. The promoters will make the investment on solar panels and other equipment. The investment will be recovered from sale of power. Railways procure power at an average cost of Rs 5 per unit, while solar power will cost less.

There are several firsts to the proposal. One, power from the panels will be fed through inverters and step-up transformers directly into the 25,000 Volts (25 kilo Volt or 25 kV) overhead traction system, removing the need for laying separate transmission lines.

Two, the project will kick off manufacturing of 25 kV single-phase inverters which are so far limited to smaller-capacity rooftop segment. The sources said some 20 manufacturers, including ABB, Huawei, Delta and Sungrow, have expressed willingness to make such equipment if there is enough demand.

Railways is estimated to save 20% of annual energy bill in the first year and 40% thereafter. Besides, the project will save Railways land from encroachment. In the first phase itself, the project will produce 6.6 billion units of power. This compares well against 16 BU (billion units) used for traction every year out of a total consumption of 18.5 billion units worth Rs 10,036 crore.

Railways will consume the total output from the project and may make arrangement for energy banking with states. Under the arrangement surplus solar power can be supplied to the state utilites, which will supply equivalent power when Railways need it .

Source: ToI

Image Courtesy:Green World Investor