Mumbai Metro Will Have Solar Panels at 12 Stations to Meet 30% of Its Energy Needs

Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL), a consortium of Reliance Infrastructure, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and Veolia Transport, is planning to install solar panels on the rooftops of all 12 stations on the 11 km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor that it operates. Solar panels will also be installed at four locations in the car depot at D N Nagar.

The power thus produced will be used to cover 30% of the Metro line’s non-traction energy needs, such as lighting, air conditioning and maintenance.

Source: Wikimedia

The initiative is a part of the ‘go green go clean’ campaign launched to mark the completion of two years of operation of the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro.

“We are in the process of finalising vendors for setting up the solar panels. Our target is to save at least 30 per cent of energy required for non-traction purposes by using clean energy. We are looking at it more from the point of view of energy savings than cost savings, but it will also marginally have an effect on the operations and maintenance cost,” Abhay Kumar Mishra, Chief Executive Officer, MMOPL, told Indian Express.

Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro was launched in June 2014. According to reports, it required 2.5 million units of electricity per month, of which about 90,000 to 1 million units are required for non-traction purposes.

“The entire solar power generating system will have an installed capacity of 2.3 MW, out of which about 2 MW will be produced from the rooftop installations at stations and remaining from the panels set up at the depot,” the company said in a statement. MMOPL will also install LED lights at metro stations, depot, and administrative buildings to reduce its electricity consumption.

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