The Indian Railways has set up a solar power plant in Bina, Madhya Pradesh, to directly power the Railway Overhead Line.
The project is unique as for the first time in the world the power generated by the solar power plant will be directly fed to the overhead power lines of the national transporter to power the traction system of the electric locomotives to run trains.
The pilot project of 1.7 MW solar power plant has been set up by the Indian Railways in collaboration with Bharat Heavy Electrical (BHEL) on railway land. The solar project has been set up at Bina Traction Sub-Station.
The solar power plant can produce around 25 lakh units of energy annually and save around an amount of Rs 1.37 crore for the Indian Railways every year.
The Indian Railways is planning to install solar power plants with a total capacity of three GW in coming years. The power generated by these solar plants will directly feed the traction power for locomotives.
The purpose behind setting up the power plant is to prove the technology, as the same technology is likely to be used for the three GW solar power project.
The tenders have already been invited for the project.However, it will take around two to three years to complete the project.