Kolkata: In a bid to achieve zero emission and energy efficiency, Metro Railway has set up a 168 KWp grid connected rooftop solar photovoltaic power plant at Tollygunge in south Kolkata.
This new power plant is spread over the roofs of 14 buildings of A & C blocks of Metro staff quarters.
” This is the first such endeavour in the residential quarters area, ” . according to chief public relations officer Kausik Mitra.
The solar power that will be generated here will be used to supply electricity to this quarter complex as well as feed to the grid connected with the substation. This would help to supply power to the third line of Metro tracks in order to run the commercial Metro
services.
This gigantic leap of Metro Railway towards producing clean and green power will also pave the way to save the government exchequer as well, Mitra said.
The Indian Railways is committed to become net zero carbon emitter by 2030. ” Keeping that in mind, Metro Railway, Kolkata, has announced to install an additional 27,000 KWp0 (27 MWp) solar power plant in Metro premises including on the roofs of different Metro stations, railway quarters, hospital, office buildings, depots, sheds and vacant land.
An average 1 MWp solar panel is capable of generating 3500 units of electricity daily.
” So, a 27 MWp solar panel will annually generate 3.45 crore units of energy without producing any carbon dioxide gas,” Mitra said.
” If this power is generated in any thermal power station, then it would have released 13500 Metric Ton (135 Lakh Kg) of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in a year. So, Metro Railway has been contributing significantly towards keeping Mother Earth clean and green,” he said.
