In the presence of Shri Suresh Prabhakar
Prabhu, Minister of Railways and Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State
Independent Charge for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, four
Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) were signed between Ministry of Railways,
Ministry of Power & Ministries of New & Renewable Energy and their
organizations for cooperation in the areas of Electricity Transmission, Energy
Conservation and promotion of Renewable Energy in a time bound manner: -
- MOU for
co-operation in the area of Electricity and Energy Conservation between
Ministry of Power (MOP) and Ministry of Railways(MOR) to share knowledge on
various developments in the power sector to reduce the cost of power to
Railways.( MOU
between MOP and MOR signed between Shri P.K.Pujari, Secretary Power and
Shri Navin Tandon, Member Electrical.)
- MOU between
Ministry of Railways (MOR) and Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE)for
co-operation in the Renewable Energy to bring in a change in the energy
mix & Solarization of Railways. ( MOU
between MNRE and MOR signed between Shri Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secretary,
MNRE and Shri Sudhir Garg, ED(EEM)/Railway Board)
- MOU between
Ministry of Railways and Bureau of Energy Efficiency(BEE) for co-operation
in the area of Energy Conservation to identify technologies to further
improve efficient utilization of Energy on Railways. (MOU
between BEE and MOR signed between Shri Ajay Mathur, Director General/BEE
and Shri J.S.P.Singh, Adviser/Electrical/Railway Board)
- MOU between
Railway Energy Management Company Limited(REMCL) and Energy Efficiency
Services Limited(EESL) for implementation of Energy Conservation projects
over Railways to implement energy efficient systems on Indian Railways.( MOU
between EESL & REMCL signed by Shri Saurabh Kumar, MD/EESL & Shri
Rajeev Mehrotra, CMD/RITES)
Present on the occasion of signing
of Memorandum of Understanding were Shri A.K.Mital, Chairman Railway Board,
Shri Navin Tandon, Member Electrical, Shri P.K. Pujari, Secretary Ministry of
Power, Shri Upendra Tripathy, Secretary MNRE, Shri Rajeev Mehrotra CMD/RITES,
Shri Ajay Mathur, DG/BEE, Shri Saurabh Kumar, MD/EESL and other officers from
Railway Board and Ministry of Power and NRE.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister
of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu said that these MoUs, will provide a frame work
for providing future solutions in the power sectors and to facilitate Railways bring
a change in the energy mix of Railways. This is also needed looking at the
requirement of the present time which wants close co-ordination between
stakeholders, working together and understanding each other to make faster
deliveries to people. These MoUs will pave for efficient and reliable
utilization of resources in the power sector and also in the renewable energy
sector for making it possible for the Railway to take benefits of various
developments taking place in the power sector as a whole. Shri Suresh Prabhu
said that Railways on the expenditure side have two major heads – salary and
fuel. While nothing much can be done much on salary side, we are constantly
working to reduce the expenditure on fuel. We have already embarked upon the
path of reducing power consumption, improving energy efficiency, reducing power
cost and utilizing new and renewable energy sources and the four MoUs signed
today will boost railways’ efforts in this direction in a big way. The Minister
pointed out that Railways have started energy audit which would give a better
picture of energy consumption pattern which in turn will help in planning
appropriate energy mix. The domain knowledge of Ministry of Power and Ministry
of New and Renewable Energy and their various organizations will go a long way
to help Railways in this crucial sector. We have already started on a mission
to use LED source of light for energy saving. Indian Railways has also taken
steps to increase the use of solar energy to meet its varied energy needs and
may become one of the largest producers of new and renewable energy in future. The
Minister pointed out that Railway in its own right is a cleaner and environment
friendly mode of transport and would like to make further efforts to become the
green transporter.
In his address, Shri Piyush Goyal,
Minister of State Independent Charge for Power, Coal and New & Renewable
Energy said that the signing of four MoUs today is a momentous occasion and
transcends three crucial Ministries of Government of India. The MoUs aim at
taking a holistic view of energy sector for the benefit of Indian Railways and
also the nation. Shri Goyal appreciated that the Indian Railway is going for
green energy like solar and wind energy in a big way and is poised to become one
of the largest generators of renewable energy in the years to come. He pointed
out that the entire energy mission in the country is 100 per cent domestic
source oriented and is in line with ‘Make in India’ and ‘Skill India’
programmes of the Hon’ble Prime Minister. Three Central Ministries through
these MoUs have come together to meet ambitious targets in the field of energy
saving, energy efficiency and production of green energy. Appreciating the
Railway Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu’s passion for environmental issues, Shri
Goyal said that Shri Suresh Prabhu has been the biggest champion of this cause
and in a way worked as an ambassador for cleaner environment.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman Railway Board, Shri A.K.
Mital said that the Indian Railways is one of the largest and busiest rail
networks in the world, playing a key role in India’s social and economic
development by providing affordable transport facilities to the common man and
facilitating transport of ores, minerals, iron, steel, cement, mineral oils,
food grains and fertilizer at a competitive rates. Shri Mital pointed out that
Indian Railways consume about 15 billion units for traction purposes and 2.5
billion units for non-traction purposes alone. The electricity consumption of
Indian Railways is around 1.7% of India’s total Electricity consumption. The
annual Electricity bill in the fiscal year 2014-2015 was about Rs 12322 crores.
Ever increasing passenger and freight traffic is likely to further increase the
energy requirements for the traction purpose. A small saving on part of Indian
Railways in electricity consumption will have a large effect on our bottom-line
and at the same time contribute to the country’s energy saving. Shri
Mital said that the Railways, is an eco-firendly means of transport. To further
contribute to ecological sustainability, IR has set itself a target of meeting
its 10% of demand through Renewable energy sources by year 2020 and has
targeted large scale harnessing of solar and wind energy as well as adoption of
energy efficient appliances/equipment, to reduce electricity consumption.
He
said that under the leadership of Railway Minister, in this year Budget,
Railways has committed to expand sourcing of solar power as part of Solar
Mission of Railways by setting up of 1000 MW solar plants in next 5 years. We
have set up an Electrical Energy Management Cell in the Ministry and an Energy
Management Directorate in RDSO to work on Sustainable Energy Management in
Railways. Indian Railway has also initiated a number of steps for reducing
carbon emission through use of renewable energy. These include roof-top and
vacant land-based solar power plants, wind power plants, solar based water
heating systems, solar coolers & solar street lights etc. at various locations.
These initiatives are being implemented with the ultimate objective of economy
in procurement price of electricity and best value for money through
competitive bidding. The MOUs which will be signed today will help Railways to
work together with our sister Ministries and tap their knowledge and experience
in implementation of Electricity & Energy Efficiencies projects.
Speaking
on the occasion, Member Electrical, Railway Board Shri Navin Tandon said that the
Railway Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu had a clear agenda to rationalize the cost
of electric power for Railways. This is one action which can become a game
changer in improving the financial health of Railways. Further, solarization of
Railway is Railway Minister’s dream in line with the Hon’ble PM’s directives,
as well with the aim to reduce the cost of power for Railways. The concerns of
Railway Minister are known for environment and so is the emphasis on renewal
energy.
Railways
have a total Electric bill of about Rs.12500 Crores, including Rs.10900 Crores
for traction and Rs 1700 Crores for Non-traction energy. To rationalize this
energy cost, Minister
of Railways had
constituted a committee under Central Electricity Authority (CEA) which
generated an “Energy Action Plan” to reduce electricity bill for Railways by
getting electricity at economical tariff through open bidding, conducting
energy audits, harnessing green energy etc.
Ministry
of Railways, as a long term strategy, would like to build its own transmission
network, connected to Inter State Transmission network as per CEA
recommendations. Shri Tandon said that by our own efforts by initiating
various energy efficiency related measures, Railways have been able to save
about Rs 2000 Crores in last 5 years. BEE has calculated that these efforts
have led to an improvement by 3.33% in use of energy in Traction application,
on year to year basis, far ahead of 1.33% achieved by the industry under PAT
(Perform Achieve and Trade) scheme. He pointed out that there is still a huge
scope and so we are now associating with BEE for a closer look at our systems
to suggest even better energy efficient means. Shri Tandon said that we have
already become part of the Energy efficient LED lamp scheme when Railway
administration assisted the distribution of LED lamp to Railway staff at Diesel
Locomotive works Varanasi. In just four days more than 32000 lamp were
purchased by our over enthusiastic staff. Today the scheme has been flagged
off in Delhi as well with the purchase of a LED lamp by Minister of Railways
himself.
SALIENT FEATURES OF MOUs :
A. MOU between
MOR & MOP and between MOR and BEE
·
Implementation of
Electricity & Energy Efficiency projects for Indian Railways including
feasibility, study, construction, operation and maintenance of Electricity
& Energy Efficiency projects in a phased manner by optimum utilization of
resources of both Parties.
·
Co-operation for
construction, operation and maintenance of transmission lines for
connection with Railway substation through the PSUS under the control
of both parties and development of smart grids & online Load
Monitoring Centers, in co-ordination with National load Dispatch Centers
etc.
·
Facilitating sharing of
information, experiences, knowledge and training of staff and officers of
Railways at their own cost on identified subjects or through organization of
joint workshops, conferences and seminars etc.
·
Exchange of Scientific
and Technological information and data, training of scientific and technical
personnel’s, implementation of joint research or technical projects
for achieving energy conservation on Indian Railways.
·
Co-operation in
implementation of energy conservation projects for targeted achievement of
energy savings over Indian Railways and development of long term road map.
·
Replacement with
energy efficient equipments and technology innovation on non-commercial
basis for encouragement to Zonal Railways on energy conservation
measures.
·
Finalization of concept
of papers on present technologies and their usages in Railways.
B. MOU between MOR and MNRE
·
Conceptualization,
structuring, implementation, Operation and Maintenance of Renewable
Energy Projects in phased manner by optimum utilization of
resources of both Parties.
·
Implementation
of Renewable Energy projects at different Indian Railways premises (Railway
stations, yards, offices, workshops and residential complexes &
other installations) .
·
Both
parties may also recognize the importance of available Renewable
Energy resource for industrial and thermal applications.
C. MOU
between REMCL and EESL
Under
the MOU,EESL will undertake Energy Audits of Railway Building, assess
potential of energy savings through techno-commercially viable energy
efficiency measures as may be mutually agreeable, finalisation of Technical
Specifications of various energy efficient equipments such as LED Lights, Air
Conditioners, Ceiling fans, Water pumps, Automatic Power Factor Correction
panels, Compressors etc. to be deployed in the relevant projects & assist
in procurement on competitive bidding basis as per public procurement norms
ensuring the technical performance of newly installed equipments as per design
specifications to provide the following services to Zonal Railways on
remuneration basis. To spread awareness of LED bulbs, arrangements made by
Electrical Energy Management Directorate, Railway Board with Energy Efficiency
Services Limited for distribution of 7 watt LED bulb for Railway employees
under their Demand Side Management based Efficient Lighting programme
(DELP). LED bulb distribution will start on 12.08.2015 from 1600 Hrs. for
railway employees at Rail Bhawan, Baroda House and DRM office, New Delhi. These
bulbs are provided at a subsidised rate of Rs. 93/- and each employee with
valid proof is eligible to get a maximum of four bulbs .
BACKGROUND BRIEF
Railways are one of the biggest
consumers of power in the country and would like to become leader in the
renewable sector and master the technologies leading to efficiency utilization
of energy. These 3 MoUs with Ministry of Power (MoP), Ministry of New and
Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) will take care of
complete power sphere from Railways perspective covering generation of power to
demand side and make it possible for Government of India to show case how
learning from each other can take you ahead in exploiting world class
technologies and provide cheaper services to the people at large. These MoUs
will also provide Railways the technical expertise, and open training facilities
available in the power sector, to Railways.
The National Action Plan on climate
change aims at enhancing renewable energy in the overall energy mix and other
uses. While working together with MNRE, railways can use its open air spaces
and vast stretches of land to generate renewable energy. Both these
organisations will also work towards increasing awareness of benefits of the
renewable energy using the space resources visibility of Railways. Developing
appropriate funding mechanism is a very important aspect to make a technology
successful and so this collaboration will explore various financial
possibilities including utilisation of international funds.
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AKS/MN/dk