MUMBAI: The

Western

Railway will go green and instal a 100 KWP

solar

power system on the rooftop of its

Churchgate

station building. This will generate cheaper, reliable power for most of the departments in the

WR

headquarters located in the building.

“It is yet another initiative by WR to tap

renewable

energy sources and save power consumption,” said a top railway official. “This will result in an estimated annual saving of 1.12 lakh units and Rs. 7.05 lakh towards power bills.”

Sources informed

TOI

on Monday that the WR will install 2x50 KWP solar power systems at an estimated cost of Rs 5.33 lakh. The work will be undertaken by M/s Central Electronics Limited, a Central government PSU.

Incidentally, the railway ministry had recently stressed on the use of renewable sources of energy and subsequently introduced some pioneering initiatives such as installation of roof top solar panels on railway coaches to reduce carbon footprint. Solar power systems of a total capacity of 100KWP have been commissioned already at four WR stations Ratlam (30KWP), Neemach (20KWP), Indore (20KWP) and Chittaurgarh (30KWP) under their CSR initiative for the first time on Indian

Railways

.

It is learnt that Indian Railways has set a target of installing 1000 MW capacity of solar energy plants and tapping 170MW of wind energy by 2020. The WR is conducting an international seminar on “Wind Energy Opportunities in Rail Sector” on Friday.