SW Railways harnesses solar energy, makes huge savings in power bills

Bengaluru: The South Western Railway(SWR) is one of the zones which has taken giant strides in energy conservation. One of the significant actions taken in this direction has been the installation of solar panels at stations, service buildings, LC gates etc. across the zone. This will not only help in meeting power needs of all the stations but also save expenditure for the railways.

The SWR has installed a total of 4656.60 KWpsolar panels at service buildings and major stations so far. The zone has provided solar panels at 120 station rooftops (covering all major stations – SSS Hubballi, KSR Bengaluru, Mysuru, Yeshvantpur etc.) and 7 service buildings (Zonal Headquarters Rail Soudha, Divisional Railway Manager's Office-Hubballi, Divisional Railway Manager's Office-Bengaluru, Divisional Railway Manager's Office - Mysuru, Railway Hospital-Hubballi, Parcel Office Bengaluru, Railway Hospital -Bengaluru). Both the workshops in zone (Hubballi Workshop-1045 KWp Capacity; Mysuru Workshop-500 KWp Capacity) and both the sheds, Krishnarajapuram Diesel Shed (240 KWp), Hubballi EMD Shed (640 KWp) have also been provided with solar rooftop plants.

In addition, 295 level crossing gates are provided with solar panels. The solar electricity generation during last financial year in SWR was 46.11 lakh units resulting in saving in electricity bills to the tune of Rs. 1.96 crore. It's estimated that nearly 70% of electricity requirement of SSS Hubballi station during the year 2021-22 (total energy consumption- 4.8 lakh units) was met through solar energy. 83% of energy requirement of Hubballi workshop (with second highest energy consumption in SWR of 13.51 lakh units) is being met from solar energy. 60% of energy requirement of Hubballi EMD shed with 1.13 lakh unit annual consumption is being met from solar power.

In the year 2021-22, 250 KWpsolar panels installed at Rail Soudha have generated 2.75 Lakh Units of energy resulting in a saving of Rs.15.51 Lakh. 320 KWpsolar Panels installed at Hubballi Divisional Railway Manager's Office has generated 84,294 Units of electricity in the last financial year resulting in a saving of Rs. 2.80 lakh.

The 80 KWp Solar panels at Bengaluru Divisional Railway Manager's Office have generated 94,115 Units of energy during the last financial year resulting in a savings of Rs. 4.25 Lakh. From the 100 KWp Solar installation at Mysuru Divisional Railway Manager's Office, 1.28 Lakh Units of energy have been generated during 2021-22 which has resulted in a saving of Rs.5.11 Lakh.

In the same period, 1045kWp Solar Panels installed at Hubballi Workshop generated 11.21 Lakh units of Solar Energy which contributed Rs.47.28 lakh as savings and 500KWp solar panels at Mysore Workshop generated 5.36 lakh units of solar energy contributing Rs. 18.40 lakh as savings.

The generation of 6.77 Lakh units, 2.46 Lakh units and 1.80 Lakh units has been contributed by 640 kWp solar panels in Hubballi EMD shed, 240kWp solar panels in Krishnarajapuram Diesel Shed and 170kWp solar panels in IOH Shed respectively, in which, all three of them together contributed Rs. 52.04 Lakh of savings.

During the 2021-22, financial year, solar panels at SSS Hubballi station have generated 3.38 lakh units of energy, 80 KW solar panels at Yesvantpur Railway Station have generated 0.95 lakh units and 110 KWpsolar panels at Mysuru Railway Station have generated 1.42 lakh units. These stations altogether generated savings of Rs. 21.42 lakhs.

The General Manager, SWR, Sanjeev Kishore said, "SWR is planning to install solar panels further at 26 stations in the present financial year.

Kishore said that railway is tapping this clean energy and same will accelerate the Railways' mission of becoming a 'Net Zero Carbon Emission Railway' by 2030."

"The team headed by Jaipal Singh, Principal Chief Electrical Engineer, and led at Divisional level by Arvind Malkhede, Divisional Railway Manage, Hubballi, Rahul Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager, Mysuru and Shyam Singh, Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru in their respective Divisions, is working diligently to meet the target," Kishore said