It has been an year that Nagpur division of Central Railways has been using solar energy and today they are reaping the benefits of the same. The solar energy is used at the divisional railway manager (DRM) office and now they are saving a lot on power bills.
In 2015, a 10 KV solar unit was installed at the DRM office terrace and the cost of the implementation was Rs 17 lakh. Since the last one year, the unit has been generating 50 units of electricity per day, which means they are saving Rs 500 per day if we count one unit price by Rs 10 per unit (commercial rate). Moreover, the consumption was earlier 1,000 units per month and now it has come down to 950 units. So in the last 13 months, the DRM office has saved 18,000 units which would have cost them Rs 1.8 lakh.
This also means that if they are saving Rs 1.8 lakh per year, the cost of the solar unit will be achieved by them in the next 10 years and that too without any maintenance costs.
Indian Railways minister Suresh Prabhu has been very keen on using solar energy in the railways and he has been instrumental in getting this solar unit installed a year ago.
By Atanu Kumar Das
