After Indian airports, Indian railway stations are soon to go solar as well. Mr. Arun Jaitley, finance minister of India, announced during the budget speech that 7,000 railway stations across the country will go solar (Solar Solar Solar all the way! – Budget 2017). Indian Railways carries 23 million passengers a day, spending a quarter of its income on energy (~US$5 billion each year). It also accounts for more than 2% of India’s electricity consumption:
Here are some key points around Indian Railways’ plan to go solar:
- Firstly, India has 7,137 railway stations as per Ministry of Railways data as of March 2015 end
- 7,000, or almost 98%, of the stations are in the plan to be fed with solar power
- Solar rooftop systems are being setup on 300 stations at present and this is to be extended to 2000 stations soon
- Railways is also targeting 5GW of solar by 2025 in partnership with United Nations Development Programme:
- For the first phase, it has identified 25MW rooftop and 50MW ground mounted solar prospects in Gujarat and Rajasthan last year
- Second phase will see 60 MW of rooftop and 660 MW of ground-mounted capacity installed in nine other states
- Finally, the third phase will see 400 MW of rooftop and 3,800 MW of ground-mounted capacity installed in the rest of the country.
India has shown a strong commitment to meeting its Solar Power goals (“Nothing on Earth is going to stop us from doing that”, says India on Renewable Energy Goals) and is well on its way to achieve the 100 GW solar power target for 2022. Are you looking to go solar? Simply fill out the form below or click here or call +91-920-569-5690 and we’ll do the rest.
Do also give our blog, ZunTalks, a read for all your solar related questions and check out other interesting updates on solar on our facebook page (facebook.com/zunroof).
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