New Delhi, September 1: To achieve the goal of becoming a ‘Net Zero Carbon Emission Railway’, Indian Railways has solarised more than 960 stations to date and, has moved a little bit closer to become 100% self-sustainable for all it's power needs. Some of the stations solarised are Varanasi, New Delhi, Old Delhi and Jaipur, Secunderabad, Kolkata, Guwahati, Hyderabad, and Howrah.

 

 

 

Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal on Monday announced that the Indian Railways has so far solarised 960 Railway Stations and has moved closer to become a Net Zero Carbon Emission Railway by 2030. This will contribute to national solar power needs.

 

 

Moreover, Indian Railways had recently organized a meet of leading solar power developers who had shared their expectations of being partners in the journey of Indian Railways to become “net zero carbon emitter” before 2030. Indian Railways is set to produce solar energy for meeting all it's energy consumption needs of more than 33 billion units by 2030. The current annual requirement is about 20 billion units.

 

The ministry has a mega plan for installing solar plants of 20 GW capacity by utilizing its vacant land by 2030. Some of the Stations solarised are Varanasi, New Delhi, Old Delhi, Jaipur, Secunderabad, Kolkata, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Howrah, etc.

 

About 51,000-hectare vacant land available with Indian Railways and is now ready to extend all support to the developers for installing solar power plants on Railway’s vacant un-encroached land" stated the Ministry of Railways.

 

It will accelerate the Railways’ mission to achieve the goal of becoming a ‘Net Zero Carbon Emission Railway’. To achieve this, Indian Railways has developed a mega plan for installing solar plants of 20 GW capacity by utilizing its vacant land by 2030.

 

Furthermore, the Indian railway has bid for 3 GW solar projects on vacant Railway land parcels and land parcels along the railway track have already been invited by Railway Energy Management Company Ltd. (REMCL), a PSU of Indian Railways. These solar projects, besides supplying power to Railways at reduced tariff, will also protect the Railway land by the construction of a boundary wall along the track.