PM Modi lauds Chennai Central Station after it becomes fully solar powered

The Chennai Central Railway Station has met its 100 per cent energy requirement by the installed solar panels on the platform shelters of the station, informed Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday. Tweeting a picture of the railway station, he wrote that the energy requirement of the Chennai Central Station has been met by solar power. The station has installed a solar power capacity of 1.5 MW, and thereafter all the energy needs at the stations will by this solar power. 

Lauding the great initiative, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to Twitter for expressing his happiness. "Happy to see the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station show the way when it comes to solar energy", he tweeted. 

Also, DRM Chennai tweeted a drone image of the Chennai Central Station and wrote, "One more bird's eye view of our own Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M.G. Ramachandran Central or Chennai Central railway station! #DidYouKnow that we have an installed solar power capacity of 1.5 MW and all the electricity needs of the railway station during the daytime are met by solar power?"

Further, it spoke about PM Modi's appreciation and said, "It's a matter of immense pride to see our Hon'ble Prime Minister's appreciation of the use of solar energy to meet the daytime energy needs of Chennai Central station. We promise to take up more such initiatives to increase the use of solar energy in our stations. #solarenergy."

Solar power capacities at Indian Railways

Being first on Indian Railways to come up with the concept of 'Energy Neutral' railway stations, SCR is now capable of meeting its 100% energy requirements by solar power commissioned on its 13 station buildings. Along with that, power panels have been installed at various locations and railway stations including the MMC complex, Tambaram, Mambalam, Katpati, and many more. 

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh became the first state to install solar panels after the Vijaywada station was covered with 130 kWp solar panels. The Indian Railway now aims to become a Net Zero Carbon Emitter by the end of 2030 and will set up solar plants on unused vacant railway lands for meeting its traction power requirement. It also looks forward to installing 20 GW of land-based solar plants. 

Image: PTI/Twitter/@AshwiniVaishnaw