India Railway’s Revolution Towards Renewable Energy

India is experiencing a renewable revolution as the government is fully investing in renewable projects. Amid this nationwide revolution, India’s ministry of railways stepped out to announce its plan on transforming all Indian railway into a green railway by 2025. This move is been carried out as part of the government initiatives in the commitment made under the Paris agreement to increase decarbonization. The India railway makes use of mostly electricity and diesel as their source of energy which is not eco-friendly. Therefore, they are planning a massive increase in the production of renewable energy. Their target is to meet 28% of their power demand with renewable energy with solar by 2025. But the question is how can these be achieved?

“India railway is one of the biggest operating railway in the world and one of the largest networks consuming electricity in the country. It accounts for about 2% of total power consumption in India. And with a reduction in the use of fossil fuel in the sector will have a great impact on the country’s commitment to the use of renewable energy to save its environment.” notes Boaz Augustin, a business guru and an expert in renewable energy. “The railway is the first public sector to increase the use of renewable energy. These projects as therefore given opportunities to many contractors and project developers in the country. As the sector is one of the biggest bankable public sectors in India.” Boaz Augustin adds.

Powered solar railway

The Indian government is committed to providing a minimum of 200MW to the Indian railway through the use of windfarm. And as we all know that the northern states of India are mostly sunny throughout the year, it’s not a surprise that the India railway will invest in solar power. Through an investment of $3.8billion, the India railway is capable of providing about 5GW of solar power to its network. This was announced after a study funded by the United Nations Development Programme in 2017. Therefore, the India railway is working with the UNDP organization to reach its goal. Also, the India railway has acquired over 4,000 acres of land for the installation of solar power plants which will generate over 400MW for the railway stations.

Moreso, a solar rooftop panel will be used for the delivery of solar power and this will be achieved by installing the rooftop panel. The Indian railway is now working with many contractors and renewable energy developers to achieve their solar rooftop objectives. This will demonstrate India’s strong project development capabilities. This will also help the goal of the prime minister of India Narendra Modi in creating clean and green energy through the use of solar power come through.

“India railway project is ambitious considering the amount of energy that needs to be generated, has India as added above 8GW of solar power for the past two years. And solar capacity is said to have increased to about 380% in the last three years. India is taking a huge step in tackling climate change and the prime minister has pledged the reduction of fossil fuel beyond the countries imagination. Therefore, solar companies are hoping that this change will boost the use of more solar power throughout the country, ”says Boaz Augustin.