South Central Railway (SCR) has become the first on Indian Railways to come up with the concept of ‘Energy Neutral’ railway stations, capable of meeting 100% energy requirements by tapping natural solar power through Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) panels commissioned on about13 station buildings.
Energy neutral stations are: Ghatkesar (Secunderabad - Bibinagar section), Dharur (Secunderabad - Vikarabad), Raghunathpalli (Secunderabad - Kazipet), Mellacheruvu (Motumari - Vishnupuram), Ontimitta (Kadapa - Renigunta), Guntakal, Kadiyam (Rajamundhry - Duvvada), Vijayawada, Dwarapudi, Godavari (Nidadavolu-Rajamundhry), Dharmabad (Nizamabad - Mudkhed), Hyderabad, Sivungaon, Umri, Karkheli & Bolsa.
Eco-friendly concept
Senior officials informed that a railway health unit service building at Parli Vaijnath under Secunderabad division in Maharashtra is also in the same category. This eco-friendly concept is based on the principle of developing railway station buildings with total solar power tapping capabilities commensurate to exact load requirements of those particular stations.
This is done by installation of SPV panels on the rooftops which are integrated with the on-grid (or) off-grid solar energy plants to derive power supply to the entire station. The total capacity of solar panels installed at the 13 ‘energy neutral’ stations is 99 kWp with the cost incurred, being around ₹50 lakh.
The anticipated energy generation from these stations comes to around 1.3 lakh units annually and it is expected that solar power will also lead to savings of ₹13 lakh each year. In addition, the generation of clean solar energy will help reduce carbon footprints to the tune of 1,170 tonnes per annum, they explained.
All the power needs of 13 stations like lighting, fans, pumps and other electrical appliances are met through the solar energy generated and this is bringing down the net traditional energy consumption at these stations to zero, said senior officials said.
SCR General Manager Gajanan Mallya said special focus is on environment protection measures and so far 8.2MWp solar power plants, 1.75 KWp solar hybrid plants, 2.18 lakhs LPD solar water heating, 570 kWp water pumping and 52 KW equivalent day pipe light system in offices were commissioned.
Since the zone is located in a hot terrain, the climatic conditions should be tapped abundantly for solar energy and more stations should be brought into the ‘energy neutral’ conditions, he told his senior officials in a recent meeting.
The ‘Solar Roof’ for Kamareddi on booking office (Hyderabad division) and ‘solar cover over platform’ at Vijayawada station where the roof was designed incorporating SPV panels are innovations worth getting replicated in other zones, added CPRO Ch. Rakesh.