Mumbai: Santacruz, Ram Mandir railway stations get solar power

Solar panels have been fitted on the station roof at Santacruz station

Western Railway's Santacruz and Ram Mandir (Oshiwara) railway stations will be fully functional as solar stations by February 27. While these will be the first stations to have platforms powered by solar energy, WR has earlier converted station offices at five locations to solar power.

At Santacruz station, a 100 kWp solar plant has been set up

The experiment is part of the Railway Ministry's initiative Mission 41k that aims to save Rs 41,000 crore in railways' energy costs in the next decade. The earlier experiments were done at administrative and ticket booking buildings with solar power plants of a total capacity of 362 kWp installed at PRS-Mumbai Central and Dadar, the headquarter building at Churchgate, the new station building at Andheri and the station building at Bandra Terminus.

Also read - Mumbai: First train arrives at Ram Mandir station

With the 362 KWp plant, approximately 4.75 lakh units of electrical energy will be generated every month. This will not only result in saving around Rs 24.7 lakh per annum, but will also cut down carbon emissions by 1.4 ton a day.

Rooftop panels
At Ram Mandir and Santacruz, panels have been fitted above the station roofs, at both ends of the slow line platforms; these will power lights, fans, passenger announcement systems and other amenities at the stations.

At Santacruz, a 100 kWp solar plant has been set up, while at Ram Mandir, a 146 kWp one. These grid-connected solar plants, which have been installed under a Power Purchase Agreement for 25 years at the rate of Rs 4.8 per unit, will result in approximate savings of Rs 10 lakh per annum and cut down carbon emissions by 350 tons a year.

The Central Railway too conducted a similar experiment at Asangaon, which uses solar as well as wind energy, making it a green station in the true sense. Matunga, Ambernath, Badlapur, Chembur and Mankhurd stations are next in line for the green switch. The day (February 27) is significant for the railways for another reason as well - the three army bridges at Elphinstone Road, Currey Road and Ambivli will be thrown open to public.

Rs 24.7 lakh
Annual savings with the help of the 362-kWp solar plant

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