Soon the New Delhi railway station could be solar-powered, making it the first ‘green’ station in the city. Under the pilot project, solar panel of 1 MW capacity will be installed in the non-utilised portion of the rooftop at an expenditure of Rs 15 million.
This need to utilise solar energy has borne out of the fact that currently New Delhi pays around Rs 15 million as its monthly power bill and draws 5 MW electricity. “The solar panels will help reduce the dependence on the conventional source of power. We will install higher capacity solar panels in a phased manner,” said A K Sachan, divisional rail manager.
The panels will be installed on private public partnership. A private company will install the panels and the railways will purchase the power from it on a fixed rate. Solar panels will be installed above the roof of foot over-bridges, terrace and other shelters of the station. “The private party will install and maintain the solar panels. The agreement would be for 5 to 10 years. The power tariff will be fixed so it benefits Railways and allows the concessionaire to recover initial investment,” Sachan said.
The railways will first have to invite bids to appoint a consultant to examine the modalities of the solar panels. The consultant will be appointed by December-end and, based on the study, installation of solar panels would start next year, Sachan said.
Recently, we reported how 5 station in Madhya Pradesh are being powered by solar energy. The decision to switch across to solar by the mentioned states is a sign of things to come.
