Indian Railways’ Vijayawada station gets solar rooftops; To save additional Rs 8.1 lakh annually

Indian Railways’ Vijayawada station has moved a step closer to reducing carbon emissions even further after being equipped with an innovative solar photovoltaic cover-over-platform. Sharing the news on his official Twitter handle, railways minister Piyush Goyal said the new equipment would save around Rs 8.1 lakh annually. He said the system reduce carbon emissions by meeting 18% of the station’s power requirement, while additionally acting as a shelter for passengers.

The 65 kWp (kilowatts peak) building-integrated photovoltaics solar cover was commissioned virtually by South Central Railway’s Vijayawada divisional manager P. Srinivas.

The new addition takes Vijayawada station’s solar photovoltaic cover-over platform capacity to 130 kWp.

According to reports, the solar roof cost Rs 62 lakh to set up.

Additionally, following recommendations of the divisional railway manager, it has been decided to cover the 32-metre gap between the current shelter and the new building-integrated photovoltaics solar cover on platform Nos. 4 and 5. The new project, which has already been sanctioned, will add another 65kWp solar power.

According to reports, for this project, 54 kWp on platform Nos. 4 and 5 and 11 kWp on platform Nos. 8 and 9 were commissioned. Previously, solar high capacity building-integrated photovoltaics solar plant of 65kWp was installed on platform Nos. 4 and 5 in December 2019.

With a total capacity of 130 kWp solar roof, Vijayawada Railway Station will save around 2.12 lakh units of power per annum, saving Rs 16.36 lakh annually.

The railways have moved to expedite electrification of the network in the past seven years.

Goyal said in May that the national transporter recorded the highest ever electrification of sections across the Indian Railways network in the 2020-21 fiscal despite the effects of COVID-19 towards the end of the year.

During fiscal 2020-21, Indian Railways achieved the highest ever electrification of sections, covering 6,015 Route Km in a single year, surpassing the previous highest of 5,276 RKM achieved in 2018-19, The Financial Express reported.