As part of this, as on 31.03.2021, 119.98 MW of solar plants (113.28 MW on Roof tops + 6.7 MW on land) have already been commissioned over IR.

2MW Solar Power Plant installed generating 2.8 million units of electricity annually. First captive Solar Power Plant of IR. Entire factory and Railway Colony is running on solar power.

Indian Railway has committed itself to the cause of reducing carbon emission by adopting renewable energy on priority. Some of the innovative implementations of use of solar energy generation:

The above includes harnessing solar energy in all possible ways like:

• Grid connected/off grid solar pane provided at Divisional Head Quarters, Zonal headquarters, maintenance depots, sheds and workshops.
• Solar plus wind hybrid power systems at stations, in addition to the existing power supply to harness the wind and solar energy to the fullest.
• Solar based water heating system at all railway stations, rest houses, running rooms, hospitals, base-kitchens & other railway premises.
• Use of solar cooker in Railways Institutes, Training Schools, rest Houses, Running Rooms, Base Kitchen and other Railways premises.

Solar Panels on roof top of Narrow gauge

Railway has provided Solar Panel on roof top of coaches for train lighting system in four narrow gauge coaches plying on Pathankot-Joginder Nagar route in Kangra Valley section and fourteen narrow gauge coaches plying on Kalka-Shimla section on trial basis.

Two Broad Gauge GS coaches are also provided with solar panel on roof top for train lighting on trial basis.

Railway has decided to provide solar panels on roof top of GS coaches of two day running intercity trains and 50% Narrow gauge coaches plying on Pathankot-Joginder Nagar route in Kangra Valley section and Kalka-Shimla section for extended trials for one year in all weather conditions.

Presently electrical power arrangement in rail coaches is either Self Generating (SG) type or End On Generation (EOG) type which consumes fossil fuel and requires high maintenance for under slung fitted generating equipments. Delhi Division has provided Solar PV system for electrical power requirement of light & fan first time in Indian Railways in one broad gauge Non-AC coach GS 20022. The provision of Solar PV will reduce carbon foot prints and requires less maintenance in comparison to existing generating equipments. The coach with Solar PV is running successfully in train service from last 05 months and its performance is found satisfactory.

Science Express is the first train of its kind in India that is having indigenous solar PV modules on its roof top. Train is sheer manifestation of Make In India as well as Clean India & Green India, ideology of government.

In Science Express Modules are mounted on the roof top of coaches using adhesives. Adhesive used is Polyurethane Adhesive Sealant 560 for high strength bonding that can replace rivets and mechanical fasteners. It can withstand UV rays for long time. Further the tape "3M Extreme Sealing" is also used for double protection. The tape is abrasion resistance and has excellent adhesive properties.

Here, in each coach different type of technology has been used. These technologies have reduced the weight by 80%. These are all flexible solar panels. In this process Central Electronics Ltd. (CEL), a PSU with Min of Science and Technology has taken lead and specially designed and produced flexible Solar Photovoltaic modules- for use on the Science Express under the “Make in India” initiative. One of three coaches has been provided with India made flexible solar panels. This is the first time that Flexible PV modules have been produced in the country. Approximately 3 KWp Solar Photo Voltaic Power plant has been installed on the roof top of the coach. They supply electricity to the utility grid using Inverter. The output power of the Inverter is synchronized with LT side (415V, 3 phase). These plants operate automatically and are controlled by a microprocessor-based control system.

Reliability of any plant is mostly depending on the configuration and functioning of inverter; interfaces of the inverter with grid and the way in which the inverter detects the islanding situations, in the case of grid failures for taking corrective actions for isolation from the grid. The Power Conditioning Unit / Inverter provides AC power to the specified grid with an obje ctive to reduce the dependency on conventional power as well as to minimize the consumption of fossil fuel (e.g. diesel). The Power Conditioning unit mainly comprises of MPPT, and an inverter. The high efficiency inverter converts the DC power available from the Array into AC, by incorporating IGBT devices for power conversion. The microprocessor controlled inverter incorporates MPPT technology and incorporates all the desired safety features.

All the measures for the safety have also been taken into consideration. Roof top wires are concealed under the long life tapes. Further these wires are sheated under flexible conduits inside the coach. Different levels of isolations are provided at different steps. Fuse cut offs are provided inside the junction boxes and MCBs are provided just outside at the doorstep of AC outputs and near RMPU's LT panel.

It has been decided by Ministry of Railways under the directions of Hon’ble Prime Minister to provide solar power plants on vacant unused Railway land. for meeting its complete power requirement in 2030. As a part of this, two pilot projects at Diwana (2 MW capacity) and Bina (1.7 MW, world’s first of its kind project feeding solar power directly to Railway’s traction system at 25 kiloVolts) capacity has been successfully commissioned over Northern and West Central Railway. Besides above pilot projects, work is in progress for 50 MW land based solar plant at Bhilai (SECR) and IR has also tied up 400 MW power with RUMS (Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Project).

To further proliferate these pilot projects on a larger scale, initially, Railway Energy Management Company Limited (REMCL) has been mandated to initially undertake 1.4 GW solar projects on Railway land in three phases. Additionally, in order to optimize consumption of conventional and renewable power so as to avoid surplus renewable power during peak hours, procurement of renewable power in RTC (Round the Clock) mode and a storage based solar pilot project, is also planned to manage peak demand management and solar peak generation management.