Western Railway harnesses solar energy towards energy conservation, 97 railway stations & 46 office buildings over WR installed with Solar Plants.
More details:
- Taking forward the commitment of Energy Saving & Environment Conservation, Western Railway is taking giant strides in the path towards Green Railway & Clean Railway.
- In this direction, WR has installed Solar Plants at various railway stations & service office buildings which generates clean energy and also resulted in savings of energy bills.
- According to a press release issued by Shri Sumit Thakur – Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, moving ahead with the mission to have a Clean & Green Railway, Western Railway has adopted several initiatives to curb pollution and to reduce carbon emissions.
- One such initiative is the installation of Solar Plants at railway stations & at office buildings. Solar Plants of 6635 KWp capacity have been installed at 97 railway stations over WR while Solar Plants of 3920.48 kW capacity have been installed at over 46 railway office buildings.
Image Credit: Western Railway
- In the year 2021–22, 7553178 units (KWh)of green energy have been generated by these solar plants, thus resulting in savings of more than Rs. 3 crore on energy bill on account of difference in per unit cost of energy supplied by Electricity Boards Vis-à-vis cost of energy generated by solar plants.
- The cumulative savings for the year 2022-23 is Rs. 2.15 crore, including the savings of Rs. 30.22 lakh in the month of October 2022. In Mumbai Central Division of Western Railway, 3619241 kWh were generated in the year 2021-22 resulting in savings of Rs.1.49 crore. In the current year, 2572790 kWh were generated up to October 2022 resulting in savings of Rs. 1.11 crore.
- Shri Thakur further informed that at smaller stations the energy generated from Solar Plants are utilised to run the electrical equipment at stations such as lights, fans, computers & even the street lighting in the circulating areas. At major stations, the energy generated is transmitted to the electricity grid and the electric bill is generated on metered billing.
Source: Western Railway- Press Release | Image Credit (representation): MoR
