Tuesday, June 17, 2014: In a bid to counter huge electricity bills while encouraging the adoption of renewable sources of energy, the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) recently unveiled the first solar module of its introductory inaugural ‘Roof Top Solar Power Plant’ at the Dwarka sector 21 metro station, the juncture of the Blue line and Airport Line. The 500 kWp plant is expected to start power generation by the end of July.
Once, it starts to producing power, the DMRC will become the first ever metro system in the country to install a fully functional ‘Roof Top Solar Power Plant’ at its stations. The power produced from this plant will be used to cater to the power requirements of Delhi Metro at this (Dwarka Sector 21) station, DMRC had earlier said. “This is the largest roof top plant with such capacity in Delhi National Capital Region NCR under the RESCO model. Under this model, the DMRC will pay for the units generated by the plant and the capital investment shall be provided by the developer,” DMRC said. DMRC is also looking to explore the possibility of installing more such plants at its stations, depots, parking lots and, also residential complexes, to command a noticeable check on the power management of the Corporation.
Earlier, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to install 50 MW of cumulative capacity solar plants in Phase I under its new initiative. This will further be increased to 150 MW over a certain period of time.
