Solar power to the 7,000 railway stations
Mother Nature Aug / Sep 2017
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The Indian Prime Minster wants to boost his country ’ s solar capacity to 100,000 megawatts in the next six years . Still , more than 300 million Indians still aren ’ t on the power grid
The lack of an electricity infrastructure is a hurdle to rural India ' s development . India ' s power grid is under-developed , with large groups of people still living off the grid . In 2004 , about 80,000 of the nation ' s villages still did not have electricity ; of them , 18,000 could not be electrified by extending the conventional grid . A target of electrifying 5,000 such villages was set for the 2002 – 2007 Five-Year Plan . By 2004 more than 2,700 villages and hamlets were electrified , primarily with solar photovoltaic systems . The development of inexpensive solar technology is considered a potential alternative , providing an electricity infrastructure consisting
In early February , Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a plan to apply the use of solar power to the 7,000 railway stations located across the country . The plan will be implemented as a part of the country ’ s federal budget for the up coming fiscal year . Solar power in India is now the main focus of industry and infrastructure in the country . of a network of local-grid clusters with distributed electricity generation . It could bypass ( or relieve ) expensive , longdistance , centralized power-delivery systems , bringing inexpensive electricity to large groups of people . In Rajasthan during FY2016-17 , 91 villages have been electrified with a solar standalone system and over 6,200 households have received
Solar power to the 7,000 railway stations
Indian Railways launched first solar-powered DEMU ( diesel electrical multiple unit ) train from the Safdarjung railway station in Delhi . The train will run from Sarai Rohilla in Delhi to Farukh Nagar in Haryana . A total of 16 solar panels , each producing 300 Wp , are fitted in six coaches .
The cost of these solar panels , manufactured under ' Make in India ' initiative , is Rs 54 lakh . This is the first time in the world that solar panels are being used as grid in railways . 300 stations across the country had begun to use solar
a 100W solar home-lighting system . Ranked the top Asian market for solar off-grid products .
In August 2016 , the forecast for solar photovoltaic installations was about 4.8 GW for the calendar year . About 2.8 GW was installed in the first eight months of 2016 , more than all 2015 solar installations .
India ' s solar projects stood at about 21 GW , with about 14 GW under construction and about 7 GW to be auctioned . The country ' s solar capacity is expected to reach 18.7 GW by the end of 2017 ( 89 percent higher than 2016 ), making it the third-largest global solar market .
By 2012 , a total of 4,600,000 solar lanterns and 861,654 solar-powered home lights were installed . Typically replacing kerosene lamps , they can be purchased for the cost of a few months ' worth of kerosene with a small loan . India has sold or distributed about 1.2 million solar home-lighting systems and 3.2 million solar lanterns , and has been ranked the top Asian market for solar off-grid products .
energy . Indian Railways , the state-run organization that operates India ’ s trains , has been working for several years to set up a successful solar energy program . In 2016 , the United Nations Development Program ( UNDP ) partnered with Indian Railways to generate five gigawatts of solar power capacity into the system . To put this into perspective , global solar installations