December 13, 2007

Solar Powered Railways....?

I was just wondering about how much the Indian Railways can save in electricity bills if it opts for solar power. IR has huge areas of land vacant which can be used to install solar power recievers. Probably the initial costs might be more, but running costs would be negligible and the setup would become self financing in a couple of years.

This would not only cut the bills, but also have a tremendously positive impact on the environment.

In areas where land is at a premium, the solar power recievers could be positioned atop the OHE masts themselves.

In the long run, if excess power is generated, IR can sell the same, the very same way it is selling out its railtel networks.

I know that it would be a huge investment initially, but it can be done in phases. In sections where electrification is in progress or scheduled, this can be taken up along with that.
 
 

5 comments:

Unknown said...

hey vrij !

nice thought ... solar energy is in abundance and using solar panels for powering railways surely is a nice idea !

thanks.

Unknown said...

Hey Vrij !

same O3 problems in blogger also is it ??????

it is me vamsikarra (lionking in o3.indiatimes.com/lionking) who posted the 1st comment.

and the message shows some other guy called Rahul ????

thanks.

vamsi aka lionking

Anonymous said...

hhhmmmmmm u too changed eh!!! well i'll come here too :DD

Vrijilesh Rai said...

Pras.. yep.. and good 2 see u here!

Lionking.. maybe the system u used has someone called 'rahul' already logged in. Just click signout on top right and get going!

Anonymous said...

hey vrij !

yup got that ... that was a public computer ... and was poorly maintained too ... where in i could not find the "signin" feature on the monitor.

thanks. (lionking)