Kolkata Metro’s east-west corridor to focus on solar power plants to reduce carbon footprint

March 4, 2023 Rail News

Metro Railway has been constantly striving hard to reduce carbon footprint by generating power from alternative sources. This initiative has gained momentum in recent times.

More Details:

  • East-West Metro (Green Line) is a very important transport system of Kolkata. Presently services are running in between Salt Lake Sector V and Sealdah over a stretch of 8.885 Km.
  • The overall operations and maintenance activities of this Corridor are controlled from the Central Park Depot, Salt Lake. Rooftop Solar Power Plants have already been installed over 16000 sq. metre area of the workshop and 3173 sq. metre area of ETU of Central Park Depot. These plants generate 1.24 Mwp electricity and save Rs. 48 lakhs (approx) per annum.

  • Apart from this, 0.28 MWp rooftop solar power plants have been installed o­n the rooftops of two East-West Metro stations i.e. Salt Lake Sector V and Central Park. These environment-friendly solar power plants are scattered over 3566.34 sq. metre area.  As a result, Metro Railway has been able to save Rs. 14.50 lakhs (approx) per annum.

  • This project which has been executed through Public Private Partnership Mode  is equipped with all standard protection and safety checks. Metro Railway has provided the rooftop areas whereas the solar power developer has done complete designing, procurement, installation, testing and commissioning work.
  • Solar power developers operate and maintain these plants. This solar power generation system of Metro Railway is being monitored through a cloud-based monitoring system. External computers and smart devices analyse plants’ performances with the help of built-in meters and data loggers.

  • Another rooftop solar power plant of 0.5 Mwp capacity is coming up o­n the rooftop of Stabling Bay Line Workshop. Here this power plant will be spread over 5112 sq. metre area. Once completed, it will further add to the solar power generation capacity of Metro Railway.
  • All these plants have been installed as a part of 100 MW peak rooftop solar generation projects for Indian Railways which aims to become ‘Net Zero Carbon Emitter’ by 2030.

Source: Kolkata Metro- Press Release | Images Credit: Kolkata Metro