Tuesday, July 01, 2014: As reported earlier, the new Narendra Modi government is all set to take the Indian solar mission to the next level. Reports are that the upcoming railway budget will provide for reducing the dependence on conventional energy sources and will motivate the usage of solar power.
According to reports, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda is set to unveil a blueprint of solar grids of photo-voltaic cells for substantive solar power generation in his Rail Budget 2014-15 on 8 July in Parliament. Narendra Modi government had highlighted promotion of solar energy as one of its main agenda and one would get a clear glimpse of it in the upcoming rail budget.
Apart from giving the much-desired push to the solar power projects, the Rail budget will also emphasise on LNG and ethanol-based diesel locomotives as it looks to develop alternative fuel for the railway. The Railway Ministry plans to utilise the space on rooftops of railway platforms, buildings, colonies, workshops and barren land, for generating solar power across the country.
The annual fuel bill of railways currently stands at Rs. 280,000 million, of which the expenditure on electricity comes to around Rs. 100,000 million.
