Central Railway opts for clean & renewable energy for its traction requirement

 Central Railway is playing an active role in Indian Railways achieving its mission of reducing Carbon Footprint and achieving Net Zero Carbon Emission by 2030.

To achieve that mission, Central Railway has taken various initiatives to use clean & renewable energy for its traction requirements. It has been exploring means of generating power through other renewable sources of energy. Central Railway under the aegis of M/s Railway Energy Management Company Ltd (REMCL) by way of Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) has entered into a contract with M/s Green Infra Wind Energy Ltd to supply 50 MegaWatts wind to Central Railway. M/s GIWEL will set up a wind park at Koppal district in the Karnataka consisting of 24 turbines of capacity 2.1 MegaWatts each. Wind power so generated will be utilised by Central Railway through open access for meeting traction load. This plant will be commissioned in the next 18 months period i.e. by Sept-2024. Under this contract M/s GIWEL will supply 160 Million Units electricity annually which is 5% of the Total traction power requirement of Indian Railways in the State of Maharashtra.

Central Railway is presently taking 56.4 MegaWatts wind power from M/s NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVNL) & Pavan Energy from the wind plants set up at Sangli in Maharashtra. With commissioning of GIWEL plant, total installed wind capacity will be 106.4 MegaWatts. Apart from wind power Central Railway is also making efforts to source Solar Power for traction purpose. Contracts of 61 MegaWatts & 180 MegaWatts solar power have been awarded to M/s Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Ltd and M/s IRCON Renewable Power Ltd respectively.  These are expected to be operational by April 2024.

Recently, Central Railway has achieved 100% Electrification on all Broad Gauge routes (3825 Route Kilometres) thereby reducing 5.204 tons of  carbon footprints every year and will also save Rs. 1670 crores annually. The Pace of Railway Electrification, which is environment friendly and reduces pollution, has increased at 9X speed since 2014. The electrification of Broad Gauge routes will facilitate elimination of diesel traction resulting in significant reduction in its carbon footprint and environmental pollution.