Green Energy Initiatives of Indian Railways

Three phase propulsion: IR has now moved in a big way to three phase propulsion in its rolling stock. This allows regenerative braking which results in around 15% saving in energy. The production of locomotive is rapidly shifting to three phase technology and in a few years, all heavy haul loads will be on three phase propulsion. Similarly in Mumbai, three phase Electric Multiple units have come to replace the earlier DC stock.

Energy meters: In the older DC drive locomotive stock, it is realised that better driving technique can lead to energy savings. Accepting the truth in the adage ‘If You Cannot Measure It, You Cannot Manage It’, energy meters are being provided in the older stock

Unity power factor devices: On the distribution side, unity power factor devices are being installed. It is now planned to go for 2 x 25KV system on high density and new freight corridor. This will reduce distribution losses.

Hotel load concept: On the coaching side, hotel load concept is getting introduced for long distance trains by using head on generation. This is expected to yield significant energy savings. Also, energy efficient fittings like LED lights are being progressively introduced inside the coaches.

Star rated fittings: On the non-traction side, star rated fittings have been made mandatory for new procurement. Incandescent lamps have been replaced in the household by compact fluorescent lamps supplied free of cost. All signages at major stations will be LED based. Energy audits have been carried out at all major load centres and audit recommendations are being followed as they play an important part in further saving of energy. IT based energy monitoring systems are also planned in a big way. One major policy decision is that Green Building Construction of new buildings has been made mandatory from March 2008 in order to comply with Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) 2007. IR will, henceforth, construct all new buildings as green buildings.

Renewable Energy in Indian Railways

Using renewable/solar energy: A policy direction has been issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as the National Action Plan on climate change. IR has decided on a target of sourcing 10% of its power requirement from renewable energy sources. Both grid connected and off grid renewables are being taken up as a part of this endeavour. An example of off grid is that Diesel Generator sets in remote stations will be replaced by the solar energy system. Solar energy will be used for all heating loads.

IR’s first Wind farm: One major initiative on the grid connected renewables was setting up of a 10.5MW wind farm at Tamil Nadu to cater to the energy needs of the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Chennai. According to the wind potential distribution in the country published by CWET in its Wind Map of India, Wind Power Density is very high at the southern peninsular tip of India. High density winds with seasonal variation are present at the mountain pass in the Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu. The seasonal variation in wind in Tamil Nadu is given in the figure on page 68. IR, therefore, has decided to set up its first wind farm here.

How it works: A wind turbine follows the Square-Cube law, i.e. the available wind power is proportional to the square of the blade length but the mass of the turbine is approximately proportional to the cube of the blade length. The maximum blade-length of a turbine is limited by both the strength and the stiffness of its material. When the ICF wind farm contract was finalised, 1500KW wind turbine was the maximum available limit in the Indian market. The ICF, a production unit of the Indian Railways which manufactures about 1500 coaches a year with a consumption of around 25 million units of power, has decided to have seven wind turbines of 1500KW each. With the setting up of a 10.5MW wind farm, a favourable wind season would now yield around 27% Plant Load Factor, thus meeting nearly the entire energy requirement of the ICF.If you are in the market for superclone Replica Rolex , Super Clone Rolex is the place to go! The largest collection of fake Rolex watches online!

Wind turbine at Aralvaymoezhi: The wind turbine installed at Aralvaymoezhi mountain pass consists of three blades of 40 metres each geared with fixed speed 3 phase 4 pole induction generator. The generation is at 690 volts, 50Hz. This is stepped upto 33KV and fed to TNEB grid at site and evacuated at ICF. The turbine starts generating at wind cut at a speed of 4m/sec, reaches peak generation at around 14m/sec and cuts out at 20m/sec. The turbine uses yaw mechanism to align itself to wind flow and pitch control for regulating the blade speed. The electricity generated at the site is wheeled through regional grid (i.e. the TNEB grid) for supply at the ICF.

Funding through PPP: At present IR consumes 13.7 billion units and if 10% of its consumption is planned through renewables, then IR needs to develop 600MW power from wind. The investment for achieving the target is estimated to be र3600 cr. The Indian Railways will find it difficult to arrange all the funds through Internal resources. This year it has taken up two more wind farm projects. One of the projects will be through its own internal sources and the second model being tried out is through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) route. The experience from these projects will lay the roadmap for future.

B Umesh Rai, CEGE

Integral Coach Factory

Indian Railways, Chennai