Wednesday, December 31, 2014: Indian Railways has planned to install 1GW of solar power capacity over the next five years. The department is currently working on a plan to implement this capacity. The Railway ministry has instructed the Indian Railways to establish small-scale solar power projects at railway stations.
The solar power currently generated by the Indian Railways is 10MW from the small-scale solar PV projects across 500 stations and buildings. The department is now planing to double this capacity by putting up similar facilities at 200 additional stations and buildings.
The solar PV projects are expected to come up on the large unused land under the Indian Railways. This capacity will be carried out with the help from Ministry of New & Renewable Energy and the financial assistance from the National Clean Energy Fund.
The power from these large-scale power plants may then be used to meet the Renewable Purchase Obligation of the Railways or else it can even be sold to the power utilities at a fixed pre-determined rate.
To facilitate its efforts, Railways is expected to source PV modules and other equipment from the local manufacturers.
