Proposed Solar Plants of East Coast Railways to Save Rs 14 Cr, Reduce Its Carbon Footprint

Bhubaneswar: Augmenting the Indian Railways’ goal to become a Green Transporter with the reduction of its carbon footprint, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) has announced plans to install solar plants with a total capacity of 21,826 KWP (kilowatt peak).

This initiative is expected to save approximately Rs 14 crore from energy bills of ECoR and Rs 91.41 lakh from carbon credits.

“Under this project, East Coast Railway will install solar power plants at 149 station buildings, 248 service buildings, 6,924 residential buildings, and at 366 level crossing gates over its jurisdiction,” stated ECoR sources on Wednesday.

The Railways have floated tenders amounting to Rs 83.79 crore for the installation of solar power plants or renewable solar energy sources on rooftops and shed tops across various Railway sections in the state.

The locations for the solar plant installations include the Brahmapur-Palasa Railway Section, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Paradeep-Bhadrak Railway section, Angul section, Headquarters area in Bhubaneswar, Khurda Road-Puri Section, Paradeep-Kendujhargarh Railway Section, Visakhapatnam area, Visakhapatnam Electric Loco Shed area, and Kottavalasa-Kirandul Rail Line Section.

Major station buildings and service buildings like the headquarters building, Rail Sadan at Chandrasekharpur, have also been provided with 6,790 KWP Rooftop Solar Power Plants and Renewable Energy sources. Additionally, most Level Crossing Gates in ECoR jurisdiction have been equipped with Solar and Renewable Energy Systems.

East Coast Railway is committed to maximising the use of solar energy to meet its energy requirements. This will help meet the day-to-day power needs of stations and other service buildings. Apart from being environmentally friendly, this initiative leads to significant cost savings for the railways, ECoR sources stated.