Railways plans to go nuclear for green drive

Indian Railways is exploring the use of nuclear power through captive units as it seeks to increase reliance on non-fossil fuel sources and renewable ones.

The Railways plans to become a net zero carbon emitter by 2030. And it expects to need 30,000 MW of renewable capacity by 2029-30 to achieve this.

Apart from nuclear power, the Railways is already in the process of commissioning solar power units and wind-based power plants. Hydel power would also be tapped. In all cases, the public sector behemoth would look at having captive power generating units.

Discussions would be taken up with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) shortly. For use of renewables, the Railways is exploring partnerships with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), NTPC, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), among others.

Indian Railways is the largest consumer of electricity and spends close to ₹20,000 crore annually to run their trains and offices. “In addition, Indian Railways has planned to procure renewable energy from different power procurement modes for its future energy requirements,” an official said.

In 2023, about 147 MW of solar plants (both on rooftops and on land) and about 103 MW of wind power plants have been commissioned, while another 2150 MW of renewable capacity has also been tied up.

So far, Railways has electrified nearly 63,500 Route Kilometres (rkms) till FY24, or over 96 per cent of total broad-gauge network Some 2,637 stations and service buildings have been provided with solar roof-top plants with a total power generation capacity of 177 MW.

Different zonal Railways like NFR and Central Railways are already rolling out initiatives – including tapping into renewable sources – as part of their greening initiatives.

In 2013, officials said, when peak power requirement of Indian Railways was around 4000 MW, there were preliminary discussions with NPCIL for setting-up 400 MW nuclear power plant capacity. But, reportedly in 2017, the Department of Atomic Energy’s efforts to forge a JV received a setback with the Railways declining a partnership offer.