Railways taps solar energy to power stations in Karnataka

In order to harness renewable energy for its power needs, the South Western Railway (SWR) has installed solar panels on the roof of its stations, terraces of its buildings and at level-crossing gates across Karnataka. Photovoltaic cell lights have also been installed at 221 level-crossing gates across the zone.

Hubli: The South Western Railway (SWR) has installed solar panels on the roof of its stations, terraces of its buildings and at level-crossing gates across Karnataka to harness renewable energy for its power needs.

"We have installed solar panels on top of stations, service buildings and level-crossing in the zone, which operates across Karnataka, Goa and parts of Andhra Pradesh to harness natural energy for meeting our power needs," an official said in a statement here.

Hubli, where the zonal railway is headquartered, is about 400 km northwest of Bengaluru in the southern state.

"Solar panels are installed on the rooftop of 128 major stations across the zone, including Hubli, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hospet, Gadag and Ballari, on the terraces of 7 buildings at Hubli, Bengaluru and Mysuru," said the official.

Photovoltaic cell lights have been installed at 221 level-crossing gates across the zone. Solar panels have also been set up on top of workshops and sheds in the zone, spanning the state.

"We expect to generate 4.7-million units of power from the solar panels this year during sunny days," said the official.

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The SWR has provided 4.37-megawatt peak (MWp) plants on developer mode and 165-kilowatt peak KWp) solar plant across the zone.

"Tapping and using solar energy will enable us to save Rs 1.88 crore in electricity bills in this fiscal (2020-21) year," said the official.

The zonal railway also plans to set up land-based solar plants at trackside and railway vacant lands to harness sun's energy.

Rail Energy Management Company Ltd, a subsidiary of the Indian Railways, has floated a tender for land-based solar plants of 20MWp in vacant lands and 8.3MWp on track sides across the zone.

"Land has been identified for installing plants to generate 98MWp from solar energy," noted the official.

On all-India level, the railways plan to source 1,000MW of solar power and 200MW of wind power by 2021-22 across the country.

"About 500MW will be generated from roof-top solar panels on buildings and 500MW from land-based solar plants to meet traction and non-traction requirements," added the official.