Indian Railway’s first set of solar plant of 5 MW capacity launched

Indian Railway’s first set of solar plants with total capacity of 5 megawatt peak (MWp) was launched on roof tops of Hazrat Nizamuddin, New Delhi, Anand Vihar and Delhi railway stations by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.
This project was launched as part of Union Government’s ambitious National Solar Mission in which Indian Railways plans to commission 1000 MWp solar plants across its network.

Key Facts

The first set of solar plant will generate 76.5 lakh units of solar power cumulatively per year and will meet about 30% of energy requirement of these stations. Through these project, railways will save Rs 421.4 lakh annually and will reduce 6082 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
The project was awarded in December 2016 and bought in by the developer at cost Rs.37.45 crore under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. The developer will maintain it for 25 years and Railways will only pay energy consumed at Rs 4.14 per unit.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2017